Everlasting Gift
by xSorcery
Summary: Twin sisters Neru and Rin are going to Len's ninth birthday party. At his party, tragedy occurs and Rin disappears. Six years later, a Rin look-alike goes to Len's and Neru's school and doesn't remember who they are. Rin x Len. Non-sib.
1. Oversized Banana Plushies and Mario

**A/N:** New fic. And romance this time too :D

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid, Nintendo, or anything else used in this fic.

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"RIN!" yelled a girl's voice.

Rin opened her eyes slowly, squinting from the sudden morning light. She yawned and stretched.

"Rin Akita! About time you woke up," said Neru Akita, Rin's twin sister.

"It's still so early," yawned Rin, about to pull up her covers. Neru yanked them out of her hands.

"Don't you remember?" asked Neru in a stern voice. "Today is a special day."

"Probably not special enough for me to get up at nine in the morning," Rin mumbled, closing her eyes to go to sleep again.

"Yes, it is special enough," glared Neru. "It's the day before Len's birthday! We have to buy him a present. Mom and Dad already said yes for us to go to the mall."

Rin shot up. "You're right! It IS Len's birthday tomorrow. Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Rin immediately got out of bed and headed down the hall to the bathroom. After brushing her teeth, she changed out of her yellow pajamas and into a long white collared shirt and dark jeans. Rin quickly ran down the stairs for breakfast.

"Morning, Rin," her father greeted her from behind his newspaper.

"Breakfast is on the table," her mother said.

"Good morning, Mom, Dad," Rin said before she sat down and started eating. Today's breakfast consisted of pancakes with oranges and a glass of orange juice. She quickly gobbled the pancakes and gulped down the juice.

"I'm done!" she announced to her parents. "When are we going to go?"

"When you're sister's ready," Mom replied.

Neru appeared instantly. She was dressed in a green short and wore light blue jeans. In her hand was her cell phone, which she carried everywhere. Hanging on her arm was a small purse with all her allowance in it.

"I'm ready," Neru said, walking to the closet to grab her sandals. "Let's go."

A short drive later, the family arrived at the mall.

"Meet me at this fountain in an hour. Call if you need more time. Your dad and I are going to be shopping as well. Stick together and don't get lost," their mom said.

"No problem, Mom. Take as much time as you need," Neru told them. To Rin she said, "Let's go."

"Which store first?" asked Rin. The mall was a busy and crowded place. Everywhere she looked, there was a store of some sort.

"What kind of present do you think Len would want?" Neru asked Rin. "There's just too many things we could buy!"

"Well, Len likes reading and video gaming. Why don't we split up and look at the book store and toy store. Then we could meet up at the electronics store if we couldn't find anything," mused Rin.

"That's a good idea!" agreed Neru. "But I think we should stick together. You should know how easily we could get lost here. Besides, we need to agree on a present."

"Sure. Whatever," replied Rin, already wading through the crowd toward the toy store.

"Wait up! Geez! Just this morning you didn't feel like getting up to buy Len a present, and now that you're here, you won't wait for me," grumbled Neru as she tried to follow her twin.

Rin stood in front of the entrance, waiting for Neru. Neru finally popped out of the crowd, red-faced and breathing heavily.

"That was good exercise wasn't it?" asked Rin, smiling sweetly at her elder sister.

"I don't get how you can just go through a mob of people without getting hurt," muttered Neru. Out loud to Rin she said, "Let's just get in before our hour is up. We already wasted ten minutes of it."

"Okay, okay. Don't freak. We still have fifty minutes," replied Rin, already glancing around the store. Neru snorted and leafed through the store's catalog, looking for something on sale. She spotted something on the plushie section.

"Hey, Rin! Look at this! Wouldn't it be perfect?" asked Neru excitedly.

"Huh?" Rin came over and took a look at what Neru was pointing to. "Ooh, it's a banana plushie! That would be perfect for the banana-loving Len. We should get something else too."

"Yeah," agreed Neru enthusiastically. "Just getting this banana plushie makes us seem a bit cheap."

"Let's get him a video game!" exclaimed Rin, finally able to locate the video game section of the store. "That new Super Mario Bros. game should be out by now."

"Let's go get the plushie first," whined Neru, wanting to go look at the other plushies while at it.

"Eww, no." Rin wrinkled her nose. "Who wants to go to those stupid furry things?"

"Me. If you don't want to go, at least let me go," complained Neru. "Just stay in the video game section and browse. At least I know where to find you." Neru ran off after that.

'Whatever,' Rin thought to herself, absentmindedly walking to the video game section. She reached the shelf full of new releases and quickly browsed through it. 'Hey, look. The New Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo Wii really did come out! And it's on sale too! Might as well buy two; one for Len and one for myself!' Rin thought happily.

She checked the price: three thousand yen (which is about $30). Rin checked her wallet next. Inside was five thousand yen in all. 'Not enough for two. I'll ask Neru for money when she comes back.'

A few moments later, Rin heard her name being called by Neru. "Rin? Where are you?"

"Over here, Neru." Rin walked out of the aisle she was in and waved to Neru. Neru saw her and walked towards her. In her arms, she was carrying a huge banana plushie. Rin gaped at its size. If it was put on the ground and stretched out, it would have reached up to her chest or something.

"Wow…that's a….big plushie!" exclaimed Rin.

"Yeah, I know. The saleslady was looking at me as if I was crazy when I chose the biggest one they had," laughed Neru. "Anyway, did you choose anything?"

"Yes, I did. I just need to borrow a thousand yen from you."

"Eh? Why? I thought you had enough. The most expensive game I see here only costs four thousand yen," said Neru, quickly browsing through the shelves.

"That's only if you buy one. I want two," retorted Rin.

"And what do you need two for? You don't give someone the same present twice…wait. Let me guess: one is for yourself too, right?" sighed Neru, "fine. Pay me back by next week," Neru said, handing over the money.

"Thank you!" yelled Rin as she hugged Neru tightly. Rin grabbed the two games from the shelf and raced toward the counter, money in hand.

Neru sighed as she watched her. She gathered up the banana plushie and gave it a long look. 'I hope Len likes my present better. I can't wait to see the cute look on his face when he opens this up. I should get this wrapped too!'

"Neru!" called out Rin, "I'm ready to go meet Mom and Dad? Are you coming?"

"Of course I am! You better wait for me, Rin Akita!" Neru called back, jogging toward the exit of the video game section. She found Rin standing there, waiting for her. "I still have to pay for the plushie. Wait for me by the entrance, please."

"Okay," replied Rin, wandering off to the gift wrapping section to have the game wrapped.

A minute later, Neru was also at the gift wrapping section and in a bad mood. She had to pay extra to get the oversized banana plushie wrapped. 'But this is going to be worth it!' she squealed inwardly.

It was time to meet Mom and Dad by the fountain near the entrance of the mall. Rin and Neru half-ran and half-walked through the crowded mall to get there on time. When they arrived by the entrance, their parents were waiting. Mom was tapping her foot while glancing at her watch. Dad was completely buried under shopping bags.

"You girls are five minutes late," their mom said in a fake-stern voice.

"We know, we know," Rin and Neru chorused. "It was just the crowd or else we would've been on time," added Neru.

"Excuses, excuses," muttered their dad from the mountain of shopping bags. "Now can we please get this into the car?"

The family walked to the car, a fairly new Jeep. The twins' dad dropped the bags to the ground of the parking lot and breathed out a sigh of relief. Rin and Neru got into the car, although Neru had a bit of trouble getting the banana plushie in the car and closing the door.

The drive home didn't last for long. Rin and Neru were both excited for Len's birthday party tomorrow. He invited some of the kids from his class and a few of the neighbors' kids as well. Neru and Rin were both home-schooled so they didn't really know anyone besides the kids from their neighborhood.

When they got out of the car, the twins saw Len playing in his front yard.

"Hi!" they waved to him.

Len acknowledged them both with a nod, focusing on getting the basketball he was dribbling around into the hoop.

'He's athletic!' Neru made a mental note to buy sports equipment as a gift for him next time. She slightly blushed when Len pulled up the bottom of his shirt to wipe off the sweat coming from his neck.

"Len! Happy early birthday!" called out Rin.

"Thanks." Len grinned at the two sisters. "Were you guys out shopping for my present? What is it? Will you tell me?" he asked eagerly.

"You'll find out tomorrow when you open it," replied Rin, winking at him.

Len's face turned pink. "Umm…sure…yeah…" he managed to stammer out.

"What time is the party tomorrow?" asked Neru, pretending she didn't know and eager to get Rin away from Len.

"You forgot? It's going to start at two in the afternoon," replied Len.

"Oh, yeah! I remember now. Well, I have to get this huge thing into the house. See you tomorrow." Neru walked toward their house, having a bit of trouble getting up the pathway and into the door. Len was too busy chatting with Rin to notice.

'Tomorrow's going to amazing!' thought Neru, hugging the plushie close to her.

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**Next chapter is going to be the birthday party.**

**Thank you to Sephiria Evangeline for beta-reading!~**

**Read and review 8D**


	2. Flour is Dangerous

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid

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Neru was up at nine in the morning, excited for Len's birthday party. Rin was still sleeping in the bed across from her and her mother had just started breakfast.

Before she fell asleep last night, Neru started planning an outfit to wear to Len's birthday party. 'It has to be something cute, but not fancy,' thought Neru as she dug through her huge wardrobe.

In the end, she chose a crisp, white collared short-sleeved shirt. On top of that, she wore a black tank top, giving her the layered look. Neru also wore black capris to go with the outfit. On her feet were a pair of silver flats.

Neru twirled in front of the floor length mirror next to her closet door. 'Perfect,' she thought. She checked the time on the clock next to her bed. It was nine thirty in the evening.

'Good night, everyone. Good night, Len,' Neru thought before drifting to sleep.

Today was the big day…and Rin didn't even stir. Neru bounded over to her younger sister's bed and began to bounce on it.

"Rin…Wake up!"

"Five more…minutes, Mom," mumbled Rin in her sleep. Rin rolled over in the bed.

Neru decided to try a different tactic. "Hey, Rin! If you don't get up now, I'm going to choose your outfit. You do know the amount of frilly dresses I have, right?" she whispered into Rin's ear.

Rin's eyes shot open. "Okay, okay. I'm awake now. Gosh, it isn't even ten yet," Rin said while yawning.

"I know that, but you still need to choose an outfit, do your hair, and all that other stuff in between," said Neru cheerfully.

"You make it sound like a fairy tale ball or something. But even in fairy tales, the princess has a fairy godmother that gets her dressed in a second. Why can't that happen in real life?" grumbled Rin, getting out of bed. Her hair was sticking up all over the place from rolling around in bed.

"Should I help you pick an outfit? Do you want me to help you with your hair?" asked Neru in a chipper voice.

"No," Rin told her firmly, "I'll start after breakfast." With that, Rin walked out of their shared room and down the stairs to the dining room, where blueberry waffles awaited her.

Rin finished breakfast quickly, wolfing down her mother's fluffy blueberry waffles and gulping down a glass of milk. Neru came downstairs next, cutting up her waffles into small pieces and eating them in tiny bites. By the time she finished, Rin was going through the closet, looking for something suitable to throw on.

Neru looked at the time. It was already ten in the morning. 'Four more hours until it starts!' she squealed inwardly.

"Hey, Neru. Should I wear this with this or with this?" asked Rin, holding up a pair of shorts and two tops.

"None of them! They don't match each other at all!" replied Neru, shocked at the lack of style her younger sister had.

"Okay, then," shrugged Rin, going back to the closet again.

"Let me choose your outfit and do your hair," begged Neru, "you should go take a shower first or something."

"Nah…it's okay. I'll find something," Rin told Neru. Under her breath she muttered, "Eventually."

Half an hour later, Rin emerged from the closet with an outfit that Neru approved. Rin had chosen a long, light blue shirt to wear and white denim shorts. Neru helped her choose the shoes: a pair of Converse sneakers.

"Whew! That took a while!" Rin plopped onto her bed, tired from digging through the closet.

"Hey, you still have to shower." Neru poked Rin in the side, tickling her.

"Stop," Rin said, her voice muffled from the pillow covering her face.

"Not until you get up and take a shower," Neru replied.

"Fine. Don't blame me if I fall asleep in the tub," grumbled Rin.

"It's not like you're taking a bath. You won't fall asleep. If you did, you'd fall and probably bruise something," smirked Neru.

"I think I'm going to take a bath instead then," Rin mumbled, getting up from the bed and heading toward the bathroom. Glancing at the clock she said, "I have enough time too."

Neru glanced at the clock as well. It was a quarter to eleven. She shouted to Rin, "If you don't get out of the tub within an hour, I'm barging in, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever." Neru heard Rin's voice through the bathroom door. The water started running, drowning out any other conversation between them.

Neru headed back to their room and shut the door behind her. She gaped at the room, not expecting it to be so messy. Clothes and shoes were everywhere, as if the closet exploded or something.

'Well, here's a way to waste time: clean this all up,' Neru thought, and began to pick up clothing from the ground.

By the time Neru was done organizing the shoes, Rin was done with her bath. Neru looked at the clock: it was a bit past the hour that Neru gave Rin.

"Oops. I totally forgot about the time," Neru told Rin.

"That was better for me. I actually got to take a nap in the tub. Then the water turned cold and I woke up," Rin frowned as she said this. "I feel so much more alert now, though," she said to Neru happily.

"Good for you. Now help me organize this closet."

"Coming," Rin told her, attempting to towel dry her short hair.

Neru peeked at Rin, wondering what she was doing. When she realized that Rin wanted to dry her hair, she laughed.

"It's going to take forever for you to dry your hair like that. I'll help you," Neru offered.

"Okay," Rin replied, accepting the offer.

"Why don't you grow your hair out long?" wondered Neru.

"It's frustrating to wash. And harder to take care of. Then you have to worry about style and everything. Keeping it short is just easier."

Neru got out a blow dryer and put the plug into the socket. She turned it on, feeling the warm air coming out of it. Neru aimed it at Rin's head and picked up a hairbrush with her free hand. While drying Rin's hair, she brushed it too, to get rid of the excess water in it. In no time, Rin's hair was completely dry.

"Well, that's done. And it's only half past eleven now. Wanna go play a video game or something until two?" asked Neru.

"Sure! Let's try out that Mario game I bought yesterday," suggested Rin.

The two headed to the living room. Neru turned on the Wii and the T.V while Rin went to get the game. She took the CD out of its box and slid it into the Wii. The game loaded and the twins began to play.

An hour and a half and a few arguments later, the two finally got up to World 4.

"Ew. The Bowser this time is some ballerina." Neru wrinkled her nose. "Let's just get past the tower and then get ready to go, kay?"

"Sure," mumbled Rin, all her concentration focused onto the T.V screen.

Fourty five minutes later, they only passed one level.

"This stupid fish keeps getting in the way," growled Neru, shaking the remote and trying to jump over the fish.

"Neru," Rin started, "we only have fifteen minutes before the party. Shouldn't we stop now?"

"Not until I kill this fish for sushi," Neru said out of the corner of her mouth.

"Okay then..."

Ten more minutes passed, and the two sisters only got past the checkpoint...and then they both died.

"ARGH!" shouted Neru, giving up already. "Let's just go now. Hurry up, Rin!"

"I've been telling you to hurry up this whole time," grumbled Rin, heading off to the closet to get her shoes.

Their parents also got ready to go. Neru ran upstairs to get the banana plushie, and Rin already had her gift in her hands. A minute later, the family was already at Len's house, only needing to walk next door. They rang the doorbell. Len opened the door, welcoming them in.

"Happy birthday!" chorused the two sisters.

"Thanks! You can leave the presents over there." Len pointed at a space next to the sofa. "Right now, we're about to bring out the cake outside in the backyard."

Neru and Rin left their gifts by the sofa and then ran out to the backyard. There was a picnic table in the back and kids from school and Len's class were already sitting.

"You guys are kind of late," said Kaito, a boy from down the block.

"Sorry, too busy video gaming," apologized Rin.

"Let's start," announced Len's mother, bring out the birthday cake. It was covered in white frosting and smothered with fruit, mostly bananas. There were also a couple of oranges and a few kiwis and strawberries. Nine candles were lit up on the cake surface and in icing, it said, "Happy birthday, Len!"

The kids and their parents all sang "Happy Birthday" to Len. He blew out the candles in one big breath.

"You're nine years old now!" his mother told him, ruffling his hair.

Len smiled and began cutting the cake. Once everyone got a plate, he took a bite, letting the sweet taste fill his mouth.

"Mmm…yummy!" remarked everyone around him.

"Hey, Mrs. Kagamine? Did you bake this yourself?" asked one child.

"I sure did!" Mrs. Kagamine replied. "Now have fun outside. We'll all be inside if you need us."

"So, birthday boy! What do you want to do?" asked Rin.

"Does anyone want to play tag or something?" suggested Len

"Sure," answered some of the kids.

They started playing tag, running around the vast yard and laughing. Neru, who was 'it' at the time, started to notice it was getting warmer.

'Probably because we're all running around,' she thought.

A few more minutes, some of them caught whiff of something burning.

"What's that smell?" one child asked.

"It smells like something is burning!" another exclaimed.

Rin looked back at the house. "Look! The house is on fire!"

By now, everyone turned their heads to look at the house. One whole wall was ablaze and smoke filled the air. Neru whipped out her trusty cell phone from her pocket and dialed the fire department's number. She finished giving out the address of Len's home and told everyone to wait for the fire department.

"No one go inside until they come, alright?" said Neru, glancing at Rin, who looked as if she wanted to run in.

"But Mom and Dad are in there!" protested Rin.

"It doesn't matter. Let the firefighters take care of it."

Rin sat down on the hard ground, frustrated. She really wanted to just run in there and check on everyone.

"Let me just look through the back door entrance, kay? I'll be back," she told everyone, getting up and running as fast as she could.

"Wait—"

Rin got to the entrance of the house and peeked inside. Inside, only the dining room table started to catch fire.

'I'll just look around. Besides, it's probably going to take a while for the table to burn along with the chairs.'

She stepped into the house and recoiled because of the smell. Taking a deep breath and holding her breath, she tried once again. She stepped into the dining room and walked into the living room. Suddenly, she heard an explosion in the kitchen. Rin ran back and saw that the flour on the kitchen counter had burst open because of the heat, releasing flour dust into the air.

'Oh, no. Flour is flammable isn't it?' thought Rin, feeling fear creep into her veins.

Rin stood, frozen, at the entrance of the kitchen for a minute. The flour in the air started to burn and suddenly exploded.

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**A/N:** This was such a badly written chapter. The beginning was long and boring D:

Sorry for the late update. This wasn't beta-read only because I felt bad for not updating even though I kinda promised to update soon. D:


	3. Hallucinations?

**A/N:** Another chapter :D I proofread this but somehow, I think I missed something...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid and I'm not Matsuri Hino or Hiro Mashima. (They're names are so similar O.o)

For all those non-Japanese people:

A _yukata_ is a kimono except it is worn in the summer because it is made of light cotton.

An _obi_ is the sash that you use to tie the _yukata_ or kimono.

School in Japan starts in APRIL. The summer vacation lasts for a month but after that, a new TERM starts.

* * *

Len sighed, watching his "sister" Neru Kagamine charge through the store. They were shopping for school supplies since a new school term was going to start in a few days. He and Neru are second-years in high school.

"Neru, slow down. I can't keep up with you," he complained.

It had been six years since Len's house had burned down on that fateful day. The firefighters said that there was no body of a nine year old girl found in the rubble of the house. Neru's parents had died: her dad from breathing in too much smoke, and her mother from severe burns. Len's parents had been kind enough to adopt her, making her and Len half-siblings.

It had been kind of fun having a good friend live under the same roof. After a month however, it got toward the point of annoying. Len had had to share his video games, and Neru sometimes "accidentally" deleted his saved file. He also didn't have a bathroom to himself; he had to share one with Neru. That wasn't too bad since she was clean and all, but she left underwear on the counter a few times, which was gross.

"Len! Hurry up! We still need more notebooks and pencils," Neru called out to him.

"Didn't we get enough when we came the day before?" asked Len, catching up to her.

"Yeah, but with our HUGE handwriting, we're going to need two times more than other people," joked Neru. "Besides, everything is on sale now. It's better to buy everything now."

"Whatever. I'll go look for the textbooks we need, alright? Meet me in the books section when you're done here."

Neru just nodded her head, taking notebooks and writing utensils from the shelves and sticking it into her shopping basket.

Len weaved through the many aisles of the store, getting to the books quickly. There, he found a few of the textbooks he needed and grabbed two of each, one for him and one for Neru. After ten minutes of browsing through the shelves, the shopping basket on his arm grew considerably heavier.

"Len? Where are you?" a voice suddenly called out.

"Over here, in the manga section," Len answered. He had been browsing the shelves for a volume of _Fairy Tail_ which came out two weeks ago.

"Oh, right! I completely forgot about the new volume of _Vampire Knight_ that came out this week!" exclaimed Neru. She scanned the shelves, trying to find her desired manga volume.

"I don't think they have it yet, or it's completely sold out," said Len, trying to help. "After all, it only came out a few days before."

"Aww…I wanted to see what happened to Yuki and Kaname. Did you know that Zero…" Neru went on and on. Len successfully tuned her out, looking for more manga.

"Hey, are you done yet?" asked Neru.

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to finish," replied Len smoothly. "How much stuff did you buy?" he asked, gaping at the basket full of pens, pencils, erasers, and notebooks of every color.

"Not as much as yesterday…I think."

They went over to the check out counter. All the books and school supplies had cost about fifteen thousand yen. The two half-siblings paid up and left the store, with Len carrying most of the stuff and Neru carrying the pens, pencils, and erasers.

Right outside the mall was a bus stop. The two dropped down everything they carried and sat down on the bench near the stop, waiting.

"I remember this mall," Neru started slowly, looking back at the building they had just left. "Rin and I bought all our stuff here."

"Is this where you got that oversized banana plushie you told me about?" asked Len.

"Yep. Too bad it got lost in the fire," replied Neru.

A few feet away from the two, a mother and her teenage daughter were loading the car trunk with shopping bags.

"Mom! You didn't need to buy that much stuff for me!" exclaimed the daughter. She had short blonde hair, her bangs pinned in place by a few hair clips. On her head was a white ribbon and she had clear azure eyes…

"Nonsense!" the mother said and went on talking. Len didn't hear the rest of what the mother said, only focusing on the girl that looked exactly like an older version of Rin.

'Speak of the devil...it can't be her though. There's no possible way. She definitely died in that fire,' thought Len. Another part of his mind contradicted him. 'But there was no body found, right? Couldn't she have survived or something?'

Neru didn't notice anything strange since she was too busy texting on her new Nokia cell phone. The girl and her mother loaded their stuff into the trunk got into their car and drove away.

As their car drove away, the bus pulled up in front of Neru and Len. They picked up their stuff and got on, paying the fare.

On the bus, Len took out his newly bought manga volume and started to read. The characters swam around the page, his mind wandering elsewhere.

'Who is that girl?' he kept repeating in his mind over and over again.

When they got home, Len immediately dropped everything he was carrying. Neru, however, dropped the writing utensils down on the table before plopping herself on the sofa.

Mr. Kagamine called from the dining room, "Welcome back! Did you know that there's a festival at the shrine nearby? Do you guys want to go?"

Mrs. Kagamine continued. "I remember you guys still have you _yukatas_ from a few months ago. I hope they still fit. If not, you guys can go in normal clothing too. I think the _obi_ for your _yukata_ is broken, Neru."

"Yeah, it is," replied Neru. "Maybe I can borrow yours? I really want to wear a _yukata_ to the festival."

"Do I have to go?" asked Len in a childish voice. "Can't I just stay home and enjoy the air conditioning or something? I still have summer homework to do too."

"But Len…you haven't done anything BUT homework and hang out with your friends and the like," his mother protested. "You have to go somewhere else at least once."

"Fine…whatever," he muttered, heading upstairs to dig out his _yukata_. Len found it, sitting at the back of his closet. He tried looking for his _obi_ and found it on a shelf at the top of his closet. Len grabbed a chair from his desk and dragged to the closet. He stepped on it, grabbing the _obi_.

"Mom! I need your help tying this stupid sash!" he called out.

"After I'm done with Neru's, alright?" Mrs. Kagamine called back.

Len waited, flipping through one of the books on his desk. After a few minutes, his mother walked into the room.

"So, where's your _obi_?" she asked him.

"Over there," Len replied, pointing to the bed.

Mrs. Kagamine picked it up from the bed and secured it around Len's waist. Len thanked her, and the both of them went downstairs, waiting for Neru to finish with her hair.

Neru came downstairs a few minutes later. She had piled her hair up into a bun near the top of her head and kept it there with two hair chopsticks.

"Neru! You look nice!" Mrs. Kagamine exclaimed. Neru was dressed in a gold _yukata_ and her sash was yellow. The shades of gold, yellow, and brown of it brought out the amber color and the gold flecks of her eyes.

"Thanks, mom! Len, you look great as well!" Neru complimented him. Len was dressed in a dark blue _yukata_. It was fastened by a sash that was a few shades darker.

"Let's just go. Dad is waiting outside in the car," said Len, growing impatient.

Len and Neru walked ahead of Mrs. Kagamine, who was busy locking the front door. The two immediately felt relief once they stepped into the car. The air conditioning was turned on high. Mrs. Kagamine was done locking the doors and stepped into the car, sitting in the passenger seat.

A short drive later, the family arrived at the shrine. It was already crowded. Many were dressed in traditional clothing and even tourists were here to enjoy the food and dancing.

"I'll meet you by the car at 8 P.M. It's now 5. You guys should have enough time to explore and have fun," their mom said.

"Sure," Len and Neru said at the same time. They turned and walked toward the entrance. Their parents were talking with their friends outside of the shrine. Many of Len's friends were here, including Kaito, Gakupo, and Akaito. Neru was already heading to a group of her friends. She started chatting with Gumi, Meiko, and Luka.

Len headed into the shrine, occasionally stopping to buy food. Neru tried getting her fortune told. The fortune she drew told her that she would be unlucky in love this year.

'Yeah, right!' she thought, stealing a glance at Len. 'The person I love is living under the same roof as me. How can I be unlucky?'

Len also drew a fortune for the heck of it. He unraveled the piece of paper. It said, "Miracles are going to happen with you and your love."

Reading this, Len turned slightly pink and looked up. He saw a flash of blonde hair with a white ribbon heading toward the shrine at the edge of the festival. Len quickly followed, telling his friends, "I think I left something over there. I'm going to go look. Wait here."

Len waded through the crowd, pushing past bodies, and almost tripping over little kids running around. He saw the same girl again, inside the shrine, praying. Len tripped over a rock and fell, cursing. While he was getting up, the girl turned around. Len had a good look at her face. She was the same one at the parking lot of the mall, with azure eyes. Her face was skinnier than Rin's though – probably because the chubby cheeks from childhood had disappeared. The girl walked down the steps of the shrine and disappeared into the crowd.

Len tried searching for the mysterious girl, but he couldn't see her through the thick crowd of people. He gave up after a few minutes, limping back to his friends.

"Find it yet?" asked Gakupo.

"Nope," replied Len. "It wasn't there."

"You're limping," noted Akaito.

"Yeah, I tripped on a rock coming back here. Nothing to worry about."

The group of friends spent the rest of their time having fun dancing and just moving to the beat of the music. Gumi had tried scooping goldfish, but failed. Gakupo had almost fallen off the edge of the bridge when they were walking to the shrine. Pretty soon it was 8 o'clock.

"We have to go now," announced Neru. "See you in school in a few days," she said, waving good-bye.

Len waved to his friends as well, heading toward their parents' car with Neru.

"Did you guys have fun?" asked Mrs. Kagamine.

"Yep. There was so much music and dancing…" Neru babbled on to her parents.

Len sighed and stared out the window. He was thinking about the girl who looked like Rin again.

* * *

Neru got home and went upstairs to shower and change. Len changed back into normal clothes.

"Mom, Dad? I'm going to take a walk. I need to think," he told his parents.

"Come back soon and take your phone with you just in case something happens," his mother replied.

"Alright." Len grabbed his phone from the table and walked toward the door.

Len left the house. He walked toward the next block before breaking into a slow jog. After a couple of minutes of jogging, he ended up near the pond that was behind his neighborhood.

Len continued toward the pond, sitting down on a patch of green grass. The grass here was long and unkempt, even after a few years of little water. The pond was a tranquil pool of water, with ducks swimming across the surface. It was also littered with patches of algae and water lilies. Len lay there, on the grass, for a few more minutes.

A girl biked past him at a rapid pace. Len only caught a glimpse of her but swore that she had blonde hair and a ribbon on top of her head…

"Hey!" Len tried calling out. But it was too late. The girl was already out of earshot, frantically biking away.

'This is just a hallucination. It's only because I miss Rin that I keep seeing her everywhere,' Len kept telling himself while jogging home. In his heart, however, he didn't believe it. He had always known Rin was somewhere, just not here. All he needed was a miracle to bring her back.

* * *

**A/N:** I don't think Chapter 4 will be up soon. I have so many tests this week...why is everything piled up in June? D:

Next chapter is going to take place in high school~


	4. Rin Hatsune Appears

**A/N:** A really, really long and boring chapter. I decided to not use honorifics although I really should...

I just realized that in the previous chapters that all the meals were Western meals D: Ignore that and imagine that it was rice and miso soup or something.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or anything else used in this fic.

_

* * *

BRING_ rang the alarm clock. Len groaned and rolled over in bed, pressing the button on his clock to shut the alarm. It was 7:30 – time to wake up and prepare for school.

He and Neru had spent yesterday finishing their summer homework and cleaning up their book bags. Len had been almost done with the homework while Neru still didn't start.

Len got out of bed, walking to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower. In fifteen minutes, he was done. As he was coming out of the bathroom, Neru walked out into the hall, yawning.

"Good morning, Len," she said sleepily, heading for the bathroom.

"Morning."

He went back into his room to change into his school uniform. Seihou Koukou's (Seihou High School's) summer uniform consisted of a white, collared, button-down shirt with a gray tie and gray, plaid slacks. Len rushed, grabbing his book bag from the hook on the door and then running downstairs to eat breakfast. School started at 8:15, and he still had a ten minute walk.

Breakfast today was rice, seaweed, fish, some vegetables, and miso soup. Len was halfway finished with his breakfast when Neru came downstairs.

"Hurry up and eat, Neru. You're going to be late," Len said to her, talking around the food in his mouth.

Neru nodded sleepily, picking up her chopsticks. While she ate, she texted some of her friends on her cell phone.

Len quickly finished eating and started heading for the door. "Neru, if you don't hurry up, I'm going to leave without you."

Neru looked up from her phone, surprised that he was already done. "Wait!" she said as she finished her food at a frightening speed. Len didn't even wait a minute for her to finish.

Together, the step-siblings left the house. They took the shortcut to get to the school, which had involved some climbing over the fences, to get there on time. Luckily, Neru and Len weren't late and were just in time to see the class lists. Usually, there was a crowd around the bulletin board because students were so eager to see which class they got transferred to (if there were any transfers) or who would be new in their class. Now that it was so late, many of those eager students had gone to their classrooms.

Just like last year, Len and Neru were in the same class. They were in 2-A this term, which meant that they were in the top class again, along with Akaito and Luka. Their classroom was on the second floor, closest to the staircase. They didn't have enough time to skim through the rest of the list, though.

Len and Neru got to their classroom and opened the door. The teacher wasn't there yet, which meant students were fooling around and talking with friends. Len walked over to his seat, near the windows, and sat. Immediately, Akaito, sitting behind him, leaned over and began a conversation.

The teacher walked into the classroom, ten minutes late. "Hello, everybody and nice to see you again! This term, we have a new student," Mr. Tachibana announced to the class. "Come in," he said, gesturing to the student waiting outside.

In walked a girl, the same one that Len had glimpsed a few times in the past few days. She gave a little bow to the class and said, "Hello, I'm Rin Hatsune. I'm Japanese, but I was in America for the past years so my Japanese isn't too good. I hope we can all be friends."

Len and Neru both stared at the girl, gaping. It was Rin. Rin, as in Neru's twin sister; Rin, as in Len's neighbor; Rin, as in the girl whose body wasn't found in the accident, that Rin.

Neru blurted out, "You're lying."

Rin blinked, surprised. "No, I'm not. I was in America for the past six years."

"I'm not talking about that. I believe you there. I'm talking about you being Rin Hatsune. You're Rin Akita, my twin sister," Neru told her.

"Akita? Twin? I'm an only child," replied Rin, confused.

"You two, you can have your 'discussion' later, during lunch," Mr. Tachibana intervened. "Right now, it's time for math."

Len watched as Mr. Tachibana told Rin to sit in the seat next to him. She slid into the seat, taking out her notebook and pencil, ready to take notes.

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket – he received a new text message, probably from Neru. Flipping open his phone, Len read the message from Neru.

_She's sitting next to you! Talk to her and ask her stuff!_

_xoxo Neru_

Len sighed, and glanced over to where Neru was. Neru turned her head slightly to the right, signaling that Len should talk to Rin. Len decided to wait until the break between periods to talk to her.

* * *

Right when Mr. Tachibana left the room, Neru stalked over to where Len was sitting. In a low voice she asked, "Did she tell you anything yet?"

"Nope. Didn't even bother to ask," replied Len, in a voice as low as hers.

A crowd had gathered around Rin, everyone in the class curious about where she came from and how she grew up.

"Did you live in Japan before you went to America?" asked one person.

"Umm…I don't really remember much before I went to America," replied Rin. "My memory isn't that good, you see."

Akaito walked up to where Len and Neru were huddled together, deep in discussion. "Why so serious?" he asked the two half-siblings.

Neru glared at him, furious that she had been interrupted. Nonetheless, she began to tell Akaito everything about her twin sister.

"Rin and I are twins. We went to Len's birthday party together and his house caught on fire. Rin ran to the house and we saw her go into the house. A minute or two after, there was an explosion. The firemen came right then and after they put out the fire, they told us they had gotten everyone out of the house. They didn't find Rin or anything else in there. She disappeared and now she reappears, saying that she's someone else," Neru summarized to Akaito. Luka was walking toward them too and heard half of the story.

"So, basically she's your twin sister and she doesn't know it," Luka mused, deep in thought.

"Len? You haven't said a word. You do recognize Rin, right?" Akaito asked, a bit suspicious.

"Of course I do! It's just that I find it kind of shocking that she doesn't even remember her own twin," Len replied.

"Yeah," agreed Akaito, "especially when they say twins have a very close bond with each other."

The teacher for the next class walked in and the school day continued. After a monotonous day of English classes, which Rin excelled at since she was in America for a long period of time, Japanese class, science class, and history, it was finally time for lunch. Len, Neru, Akaito, and Luka headed downstairs to where the school cafeteria was to buy lunch.

Gumi, Kaito, Meiko, and Gakupo were waiting for them at their usual table, the one near the window that overlooked the park. They put their bags down at the table and went on line to buy lunch. Today's menu was ramen, udon, various flavors of onigiri, and sandwiches.

Len got into the line for onigiri. Rin was waiting on the same line and was directly in front of him.

Rin turned around and smiled at him. "Hello! You're in my class right? I recognize you. What's your name?"

"I'm Len Kagamine. Nice to meet you," he replied to the outgoing girl, turning slightly pink.

"Nice to meet you, too, Len," Rin said, the line moving forward. Just a few more people, and then she would be able to get lunch. "How was your day so far?" she asked him.

"Oh, it was alright. Just a normal school day. Is high school like this in America too?" asked Len.

"Not really. It's a bit different here. In America, the students moved around and not the teachers. Also, you didn't have to change shoes unless it was gym and you weren't wearing sneakers. You don't have to help clean classrooms either," she replied. Rin noticed that Len was looking at her strangely and blushed slightly. "Is something wrong?" she asked him, noticing his stare.

"Oh, nothing," he replied smoothly, turning even more pink. "School in America seems really similar except they don't really care about cleaning. If the students don't do it, then who does?"

"Custodians, usually. We try to help out by picking up paper and stuff from the ground but that's pretty much it." It was Rin's turn to get lunch now. She moved toward the window and ordered an _umeboshi_ onigiri (rice ball filled with pickled plum). After getting her food, she sat down with a girl with two long, teal ponytails.

Len ordered a _shiozake_ onigri (rice ball filled with salmon) and walked over to where his friends were sitting.

"Were there any new people in your class?" asked Gumi.

"There was one in mine," replied Gakupo. "I think her name was Miku Hatsune or something like that."

"Eh…? Really? The new girl in our class was named Rin Hatsune," said Luka.

"Could they be related?" asked Meiko, picking at her food.

"No way! They don't look alike at all. Well, except for the blue eyes," Neru chimed in.

"It's possible," said Kaito. "It's just not likely, that's all. I feel as if I recognize that Rin girl though…"

"Those two are not sisters," Neru said firmly. Len put a hand on her shoulder, telling her silently that she should calm down.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" asked Gakupo. To Kaito he said, "Yeah, she does look kind of familiar."

"Because she's MY sister!" shouted Neru to everyone.

Six pairs of eyes at the table turned to look at her. They all talked at once but the meaning was clear. They were wondering how she was so sure.

"Obviously I would recognize my own twin, right?" she replied to them.

Len stared out the window, listening to the conversation. Through the reflections in the window, he could see Rin point at their table and say something to the teal-haired girl sitting next to her. The teal-haired girl just smiled and said something back.

"Remember that fire at Len's birthday party a couple of years ago? Yeah, that girl that was with me," said Neru. After Neru told the whole table about that, they all suddenly remembered. Whispers were going throughout the whole table.

"Didn't she run into the house?"

"I heard that they never found a body."

"Her parents died, didn't they?"

Len tuned out the whole discussion and stared at the reflection of Rin through the window. 'She still looks as pretty as she did back then…' he thought dreamily. Suddenly a hand waved in front of his face, bringing him back to Earth.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" asked Meiko, in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, but he's not here now," Len replied with just as much sarcasm.

"Well, Len, do you think that Rin Hatsune is really Rin Akita?" asked Akaito.

"Maybe. She probably hit her head on something and lost her memories. Did you see that faint scar on her forehead? That wasn't there a couple of years ago."

"Maybe you could ask Miku something, Gakupo," said Luka. "Ask her if she and Rin are sisters and then remark on how they don't look alike. That should give you some clues."

"That's a good idea. I'll try during one of the breaks or during cleaning," Gakupo told Luka, heading off to his classroom.

"See you after school everyone! Let's meet near the front of the school under the willow tree and go somewhere after school," Gumi suggested. They all agreed, needing a break after a day of classes.

Akaito, Len, Neru, and Luka walked back to class together, talking about the homework and some problems they had trouble on. The teacher for their next class, social studies, was already there, waiting for students to come back from lunch.

Len sat down in his seat, staring out the window with thoughts of Rin swimming around in his head. Time flew by for him and he took notes when he was listening. Soon, it was time to meet his friends down by the front of the school.

Neru was frantically texting Gakupo on her phone. Luka and Akaito were having a debate about one of the class work problems. Len just walked silently with them.

"Eh…? Looks like Gumi is ditching us with Kaito and Gakupo," Neru said suddenly. She held up her cell phone, the screen showing the latest text message she received.

_Went to save seats at the new bubble tea shop down the block. See you there._

_Luv, Gumi_

"Come on, guys. Let's run!" shouted Len, taking off at full speed. He ran through the crowd at the front gate, gaining lots of dirty looks and glares. Neru, Luka, and Akaito kept up behind him, so the gaps he made in the crowd wouldn't close up and leave them behind.

The four of them got to the bubble tea shop, already crowded with students from their school. Gumi had miraculously found a booth. She waved them over. The four dropped their bags and volunteered Len to wait on the very long line to order a drink. Len wanted a banana-flavor bubble tea; Akaito wanted strawberry; Luka wanted watermelon; and Neru had wanted cantaloupe.

Len waited on the line. He saw the two Hatsune sisters ahead of him. Rin glimpsed him out of the corner of her eye and waved. Len waved back, grinning at her.

Miku was arguing with the cashier about them not serving leek flavored bubble teas since they had so many other flavors. The cashier retorted with something about leek not being a very popular flavor. Rin was trying to calm her sister down and dragging her away from the cashier.

Finally, it was Len's turn to order. He ordered banana, strawberry, watermelon, and cantaloupe bubble teas. When he got the drinks, he headed back toward the table, hands full. Suddenly, someone bumped into him, causing him to drop the drinks. Luckily, they were all sealed and nothing had spilled.

"I'm so sorry," apologized the person that had bumped into him. It was Rin.

"No, it's alright. Nothing spilled," replied Len, bending down to pick up the cups of bubble tea. Rin gathered two of them and handed them over to Len.

"I'll get some more straws for you. Wait here," she told him, before running to a side table where the straw dispensers were. Rin came back with four straws in her hand and gave them to Len.

"Were you able to find a seat in this crowd?" asked Rin, surprised.

"My friend found it. I don't know how, but she did," he replied.

"Can me and my sister sit with you guys then? Each booth can hold like twelve people."

"Sure. The more the merrier," Len replied.

Rin went back to find Miku. She half-dragged Miku to where Len was standing, waiting for them. Len led Miku and Rin to where his friends were sitting, waiting for drinks.

"I'm back!" he told everyone. "And I have two others with me."

"Hello, Miku," greeted Gakupo. "Is that your sister?"

"Yeah," replied Miku, sliding into the seat across from Rin. "She's my adoptive sibling, but it feels like we've known each other forever!"

"Yeah! Although I haven't been in your family that long," Rin chimed in.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your family before that?" questioned Luka, putting down the book she was reading.

"I don't mind. Because I don't remember anything before the Hatsunes adopted me. I only remember being in the hospital for severe burns and a gash and that's when they adopted me. The doctors said I also hit my head pretty hard to get a cut that deep."

"Is it possible that you had amnesia then?" asked Neru.

"I'm not sure, really. The doctors never told me anything…" replied Rin, thinking.

"Why are you guys so curious? What's past is past. Focus on the present," Miku interrupted. "Have you guys known each other since you were kids?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Since forever, literally," replied Kaito.

"Except me," Neru said. "Since I was home-schooled and I never knew any kids around our neighborhood besides Len."

They all talked and chatted for half an hour more before Meiko realized that she had dance class in five minutes.

"I got to go! I'm going to be late!" she said, as she rushed out the door.

"Neru, we also have to go home. Mom said not to stay out so late since it's a school night," said Len.

"Oh, alright. We'll see you guys tomorrow then!" Neru waved to them. She turned to Len. "Hey, do you really think that Rin really did forget everything?" she asked once they were out of the shop.

"Yes, I actually do. Rin was never the type of person to forget people, especially people close to her like her twin."

"Hmm…I guess so. She was pretty forgetful though," replied Neru absentmindedly, text messaging someone.

"Who are you texting now?" asked Len, curious. He glanced at the LCD screen of Neru's phone, not recognizing the number.

"It's just Miku. I got her number while you were all listening to Rin's life story."

"And you two are already the best of friends?"

"Not exactly. It's just text messaging. Heck, even telemarketing strangers text message people now."

The two had already gotten home. They walked to the dining room and dumped out all their books from their book bags and began doing their homework.

'Tomorrow's going to be another long day,' thought Len, sighing inwardly. 'At least I'll get to see Rin tomorrow too.'

* * *

**A/N: **I think that's enough. I rushed the ending since I realized it was so long.

Thank you all for all the positive reviews I got. That made me finish writing this in a day. 8D I feel like Superman.

Next chapter is going to be about another day in school but it should take place a few days after this one. I think this will be the last update for this week.


	5. Let's Start!

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update and short chapter. I feel guilty about updating my other fic so quickly and ignoring this one D:

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or anything else used in this fic.

* * *

"Len! Neru! Good morning!" greeted Rin, frantically waving at the two. She and Miku were at the corner of the street that Len and Neru lived on. Rin and Miku lived a few streets behind them so they waited at the corner everyday for their friends so they could walk to school together.

Although it had seemed like a perfect plan during the first few days of school, it got quite frustrating. Neru was never a morning person and was always crabby in the mornings. It took a lot of coaxing from Len to make her come out this early. _A lot of coaxing_. So they were almost always late.

Well, Miku and Neru were almost always late. Len and Rin had started a habit of racing ahead of them to get to school on time. The two girls that were left behind didn't really care about getting to school on time. They had become the best of friends in a few days.

"Guys, hurry up and power walk at least! You two are going to be late for the fifth time in a row," urged Rin.

"It's just being late. It's not like we're cutting or anything," retorted Neru.

"Go on ahead like you usually do," said Miku.

Rin shrugged and turned to Len. "Let's race again! We'll see who wins this time!"

Len smirked. "I could probably walk faster than you can run," he said, looking down at the shorter girl.

"Hey! That's so mean!" squealed Rin, lightly punching Len on the arm. "I'll show you that slow and steady wins the race!"

"In a million years," replied Len, already racing towards the school.

"Not fair!" Rin chased after him, as fast as she could, but to no avail.

The two stragglers behind them just took their time walking to school, chatting idly about this and that.

"Hey, how come you aren't in our class? Even though it's the top class, it doesn't take a lot of effort to get in," Neru asked.

"I didn't score too high on the entrance exam. It was so hard that I guessed on over half the questions!" exclaimed Miku.

"How did Rin do though? She's in our class."

"I'm not sure either. She also thought it was pretty hard. I guess she has better luck at guessing than me. Rin's luck has always been good though."

"Yeah, I guess," said Neru, reminiscing about the times that Rin had won at games and prize drawing even though she didn't know what was going on. She really missed those times since everything Rin won was everything that Neru wanted.

"Hey, do you think those two would make a good couple?" asked Miku, changing the subject.

"Eh…? You mean Len and Rin?" Neru blinked at the question, surprised at the abrupt change in subject.

"Yeah. They get along well and they argue over small things a lot too. I noticed that Rin starts to blush when she talks to Len too."

"I don't think they'd be good together," Neru said, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Why not?"

"Well, Rin seems a bit too…naïve, you know what I mean?" replied Neru, desperately looking for a reason. Silently, she agreed with Miku. Len and Rin were perfect for each other. Len would be able to take care of Rin and he would never hurt her. And the option of cheating would probably never occur to Rin.

"But that's one of her best traits. It makes you feel as if you want to do something to make her smile." Miku smiled dreamily, taking a trip down the memory lane.

Neru watched as Rin's silhouette disappears around a corner, desperately trying to catch up to Len. She glanced back at Miku, who was still staring into space and snapped her fingers in front of Miku's eyes. Miku blinked and after a few seconds, focused on Neru.

"Sorry about that," apologized Miku. She smiled at Neru sweetly. "So, how do you want to kill time this time? Last time we did a hopscotch game using the cracks in the sidewalk…"

Neru laughed at the memory. She remembered trying to jump over the cracks in the pavement. However, the cracks were pretty far apart from each other and they had arrived at school with scratched elbows and knees.

"Let's not try that again. We had a hard time explaining what happened to the nurse. Why don't we just talk or something?"

"Sure. Why not? We still have another fifteen minutes of walking."

* * *

Len and Rin arrived at school, sweating and panting from their exercise.

"I still…won," Len managed to say between breaths.

"That stupid…uphill…road…" muttered Rin, also gulping down air.

"Yup," agreed Len, wiping his sweat on his sleeve.

"Here," said Rin, holding out a handkerchief. "You shouldn't get your clothes dirty."

"Thanks," he muttered. He reached out for the small piece of cloth and his fingers gingerly met Rin's hand. Quickly, he pulled away, his face flushing.

When Len looked up, he also saw Rin looking aside, face turning as pink as his.

'She looks so cute when her face is all flushed like that,' thought Len. He heard the late bell ring, interrupting his thoughts.

"Let's go or else we'll be marked late," Len said, grabbing Rin's wrist and dragging her off to the school building.

Rin didn't say anything and let Len drag her all the way to the classroom.

* * *

The classroom door opened, and Len and Rin walked in, with Len still holding onto Rin's wrist.

"A little late, aren't we? Did you two lovebirds take a detour somewhere?" asked Akaito, curious.

"What?" asked Len and Rin at the same time, confused.

Akaito gestured to where Len was still gripping Rin's wrist.

"Oh!" exclaimed Rin, gently tearing herself away from Len's grip. While doing that, she was blushing again, turning even pinker than before. She stared at the ground, feeling her heart pound quickly against her chest.

Mr. Tachibana chose that time to walk into the classroom, signifying the beginning of class. Just after he walked in, Neru and Miku appeared at the door, not late for once.

* * *

Class went by slowly. Rin tried to concentrate on the arithmetic problems that Mr. Tachibana had assigned. However, she found her eyes wandering over to where Len was sitting right next to her.

Len was staring out the window like he usually did. He never really paid attention during any class, especially math. Mr. Tachibana's lectures could even make an insomniac fall asleep!

Through the faint reflection of the window, he could see Rin. She had turned her head over to stare at his direction, giving Len the creepy feeling that she could see him through the window. He smiled softly to himself, thankful that Rin wasn't sitting close enough to the window to see.

Rin turned her head back to her work, her pencil scribbling furiously and the white ribbon on her head bobbing.

From the corner of the other side of the room, Neru mentally noted all of this. Although she couldn't see Len's smile, she could definitely feel some of the lovey-dovey aura emitting from him. And she wished that it would be her that gave him that aura.

* * *

**A/N:** I think I'm abusing the break thingie...Sorry for the short chapter but this did have a lot of plot development in it :D

The next update would probably have more fluff. -GAGS- If I really wanted to write this fic the way I wanted to, half the characters would've died already...but I don't think a lot of readers would like that, especially after seeing the amount of people reading my other fic which kind of revolves around death...


	6. Operation Udon

**A/N:** This chapter was kind of rushed, I guess. I tried to keep the pace as slow as possible.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or anything else used in this fic.

Udon is like noodles in soup. A bento is a lunch box with rice and other side dishes.

* * *

"Hey, Miku," called out Rin from the other side of the room that they shared. "Are you awake?"

"I am now," replied Miku, rolling over to face the direction that Rin's voice had come from.

It was around eleven in the night and both Miku and Rin had just finished their homework. Miku was tired from all the homework that her teachers had given. She envied the speed that Rin had finished hers. Miku had gone straight to bed after she had finished her homework, with Rin's help of course.

"Umm…can I ask you something?" Rin asked.

"Go ahead."

"Umm…" Rin hesitated. "How do you know that you like someone?" she asked Miku quietly.

Miku was surprised. Usually it was her that crushed on a guy and not Rin. Rin was the more level-headed one of the two.

"Are there any particular people that you're thinking of?" asked Miku, smiling even though she knew that Rin couldn't see her in the dark.

"Not really…I'm just…wondering," Rin replied. Miku knew that she was lying through the way that she had just fidgeted in her bed.

"Okay then…Well, I guess you know that you like someone when your face just turns red and gets warm when they look at you. And your heart goes _doki-doki_ when they start talking to you. And also when you stare at them and they glance back and smile at you," Miku told her, remembering all of her previous crushes. "Are you sure that there's no particular person that you're thinking of?"

"Well…I was thinking about Len," Rin said uncertainly. "His face goes kind of pinkish too. I think it's cute but I'm not sure if he likes me back. And I don't want to confess to him and get rejected."

"I'm sure that if he rejects you he'll try to do it without being mean. But I don't think he will. I've seen the way he stares at you sometimes during lunch."

"Really?" asked Rin, happiness filling her voice. "Do you think I should confess then?"

"Do you really believe that you love him though?"

After a moment's pause Rin replied slowly, "Yes. I feel like I knew him from somewhere, you know? Like that feeling that you knew someone from a past life or something."

_Maybe you did_, Miku thought, remembering the soft, whispered conversations between Neru and Len. Miku caught the words "twins," "sister," and other words from those quiet conversations. _Now that I think about it, Neru and Rin could pass as sisters. They both have the same blonde hair and their faces are the same. It's the eye color that's the difference_.

To Rin, Miku said, "Yeah, you get those a lot when you're in love. I know I had those feelings before. It's like déjà vu but different since it feels like you _knew_ them."

"Then how do you confess to a guy?" Rin wondered out loud.

"Well, I guess you have to get him when he's alone or arrange it somehow. Then you go up to him and tell him your feelings. A simple 'I like you,' or 'I love you,' should work."

"But isn't that really scary? Especially if you get rejected."

"That's why you try to get him alone. That way even if you get rejected, no one will know but yourself and the guy and he'll probably forget about it soon."

Rin rolled over in bed and yawned. "Thanks, sis. Good night."

"Good night," Miku replied, knowing that Rin would already be fast asleep. Miku rolled over in her bed and closed her eyes, letting the drowsiness take over.

* * *

Rin and Miku walked down to the corner of the street that Len and Neru lived on. They stopped and waited for the two of them to come out of the house. After waiting for a few minutes, they actually did, arguing as usual about Neru waking up late and taking too long eating breakfast.

"Neru, wake up earlier next time!"

"You know I can't!"

"You never tried."

And the bickering went on and on.

"Umm…good morning?" Rin said to the two of them, not sure that they would hear her.

"Morning," grumbled Neru, still irritated from the argument.

"Good morning, Rin," Len said, turning to her.

"Morning, you two. Still fighting like always?" Miku smiled at them.

"Because this guy's a bossy jerk," said Neru, pointing at Len.

"It's for your own good. Besides, it's rude to make Miku and Rin wait for us every morning," sighed Len.

"We don't exactly mind waiting for you two. You should take your time and enjoy breakfast, Neru. It's the most important meal of the day," said Rin.

"Hear that, Len?"

Len didn't reply. He just turned away from Neru and started walking to school, tired from arguing with such a stubborn person.

Rin ran up to him and grabbed his arm. "Come on! Let's go ahead of the slowpokes back there!" She started to jog, dragging Len with her.

Len gradually began picking up the pace and broke out into a run. Rin held tightly to his arm, making sure that she wouldn't lose this race.

"Hey, let go! That's cheating!" Len said playfully.

"Well, you always have the advantage so I get to cheat," she retorted, sticking out her tongue.

"Fine, fine. Whatever. Let's see if you can match my speed then." Len moved his legs faster and faster, only to feel Rin's grip on his arm grow tighter and tighter.

"Wait! You're going to fast. I can't keep up!"

"Too bad! You're the one who decided to grab onto my arm."

"Can you please stop running for a sec? I have something I want to tell you."

Len stopped, hearing the nervousness from Rin's voice. "What is it?" he asked her.

Rin could feel her heart pound quickly in her chest. She knew from the warmth spreading across her face that she was blushing. She looked up into Len's cerulean eyes and took a deep breath.

"I l-like you…" she managed to stammer out.

"What?" Len asked, surprised. He wasn't sure that he heard her right.

"Never mind!" Rin said, pushing him away, about to take off.

"Wait!" Len said, grabbing her arm before she could run. "Did you just say 'I like you?'?"

"Yeah…"Rin said, blushing even harder. If Len didn't hear her the first time, then that meant he didn't feel the same way, right?

"I like you too," Len whispered into her ear, pulling Rin into a hug. The words didn't sink into her mind until she realized that she was being hugged by Len.

She tilted her head up and noticed that Len was watching her face, waiting for a reaction. She got up onto her toes and slid her arms around Len's neck, bringing his head down to her height.

And pressed her lips to his.

* * *

"Hey, Miku. Have I ever showed you the shortcut to get to school?" asked Neru suddenly, remembering the alleys and pathways she and Len had cut through to get to school on time the first day.

"No, you haven't. Is there really one?"

"Yeah, I remember it. We're almost at the place where it starts," replied Neru, gesturing to one of the cramped alleyways.

"We have to go through that?"

"Yeah. It's not too bad, and it's actually big. It's not too dirty either. We might make it to school on time if we take the shortcut."

"Alright, then. Let's try it."

The two girls weaved through many pathways that were never used by people unless they were part of the Mafia or some gang. In broad daylight, those types of people would never show up if there was a risk of someone spotting them from a window.

Five minutes later, they could already see the school.

"I wonder if we made it before Len and Rin?" wondered Miku out loud. "That was a pretty good shortcut." She was panting slightly from the exertion of climbing over a few low fences.

"Yeah, Len and I went through it once when we were really late. We didn't even get lost even though it was our first time!" Neru told her proudly.

Miku scanned the streets, seeing if there were any of her friends that were still arriving. As she glanced around, she noticed two blonde teens kissing.

"Hey, Neru, look. Isn't that Len and Rin over there?" Miku told her, pointing. Neru glanced toward where Miku was pointing. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

"It's…definitely…them," Neru said through clenched teeth.

"Looks like Rin's confession went well," Miku commented, watching the two break apart from their kiss for air.

"Confession?"

"Yeah. Last night Rin was asking me how to tell if someone liked you and how to confess to someone you like," Miku replied, smiling at the memory.

"Really? She must be really insecure then," Neru said, attempting to hide the bitterness and jealousy in her voice.

Miku didn't notice. "Not really. No one likes to be rejected, especially by the person you like."

"And no one likes to see the person you like in love with someone else." Neru turned from the scene. Akaito and Kaito had come up to Len and Rin and were probably congratulating the two for getting together. Miku turned to her companion, not sure of what she just heard.

"What?"

"Nothing. Come on, let's get to school. Let's surprise them by being earlier!" Neru said to her, grinning.

"Alright! It'll sure shock them all!" Miku and Neru went on ahead toward the school. Neru tried to put the image of Len and Rin kissing in the back of her head, but it kept coming back.

_I'll show you that love is war. You better pray that you'll win because I'm not going to give up. Not ever. You're going to regret fighting against me.

* * *

_

The bell rang, signaling the end of history class and the beginning of lunch. Rin stretched her arms and got up to walk over to where Len was sitting.

"Len! Let's go eat!" she said in a sing-song voice. Rin was still happy that she hadn't been rejected when she had confessed to Len. The good mood would probably stay with her for quite some time.

Len was currently being bombarded with questions about his love life. Rumors really did travel quickly in their school.

"Who confessed?"

"Did you guys kiss yet?"

"How was it?"

Len spotted Rin and darted through the small crowd of people who had gathered around his desk. He grabbed Rin's hand and dashed toward the cafeteria, dragging her along too.

"Wow, you sure have a lot of fangirls," RIn commented.

Len snorted. "Don't worry, none of them mean anything to me. They're just weird, crazy stalkers."

"Alright." Rin smiled at him brightly, feeling slightly relived.

Neru was already at their usual table in the cafeteria. "Here, I bought the ramen that you wanted," she said, handing a tray over to him.

"Are you going to buy lunch?" Len asked, turning to Rin.

"No, I have a bento that I made at home."

"I'm going to go on line for an _udon_," Neru said to the two of them, not sure if they heard or not.

"Alright. Can you get me a pair of chopsticks while there?" asked Len.

Neru had already turned and walked away. She gave him a little waving, gesturing that she had heard what he said.

Len's stomach grumbled as he stared at the ramen. Rin, who was sitting next to him, heard.

"Here," Rin said, handing him her chopsticks. "You can use mine. I'm not really hungry right now."

"No, it's fine. You should eat. I'll wait for Neru. Besides, the _udon_ line isn't that long. I think she already got her food," he said, noticing her from the corner of his eye.

Neru power-walked over to them, spotting a person's book bag lying on the floor. She looked at her _udon_ that was filled to the brim with soup and noodles and a plan formed in her mind.

She walked over to where they were sitting, "accidentally" tripping over the bag that was lying on the ground. From there, Neru slipped and fell but somehow caused the bowl of _udon_ on her tray to flip up into the air and fall right onto Rin. Some of the soup had splattered onto Len.

The scalding soup seeped through the thin material of Rin's school uniform. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Neru kept apologizing over and over again.

"It's okay," Rin told her, "I have another shirt in my book bag somewhere. I can change into that."

Rin went off to the bathroom to change. Len grabbed napkins and tried to mop up some of the mess from the soup. Neru smiled to herself. _Operation Udon, complete!

* * *

_

**A/N:** This was so rushed. I didn't proofread the end so there might be a few mistakes. As a gift for being so patient and for all the good reviews, I shall attempt to update tomorrow or the day after since I have a half day of school. :D


	7. Breaking Trust

**A/N:** This chapter takes place 2 months after the previous one. In those two months, everyone went to school and Len and Rin dated and stuff...And Neru...well, you'll find out.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or Adobe or anything else used in this fic.

_Senpai_ is an honorific used to upperclassmen, like a colleague that is higher ranked than you or when a freshman student is talking to a senior and stuff like that. _Kouhai_ is the opposite of that.

* * *

"So you'll do it, right?" Neru asked a frightened first-year girl.

The first-year shivered, hearing the malice and contempt in her voice, fearful for what might happen to her if she didn't agree. Everyone in the school knew that Neru was one of the scariest people in their neighborhood. There were even rumors that she beat up a member of the Japanese yakuza and won.

"Alright," replied the girl, hesitating. "But isn't this kind of a mean thing to do to _senpai_?"

Neru raised an eyebrow, her eyes turning colder than usual. The first-year gulped and quickly mumbled, "Never mind." She scampered away into the classroom.

_Freshman are ruder and ruder every year_, Neru thought to herself, remembering all the times she didn't listen to her upperclassmen last year.

Neru waited a few minutes before walking in, so it wouldn't seem too suspicious. The girl was standing in front of Len, and bits of their conversation drifted over to where she was sitting at her desk.

"Umm…I know that you…umm…" the girl hesitated, her face turning pink. She stared at the ground, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Yes?" Len asked the girl, impatient. She had just interrupted his conversation with Akaito about the upcoming sports event.

"Can I talk to you in private?" the girl asked quickly, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the classroom. When the first-year girl passed Neru when walking toward the back of the classroom, Neru flashed gave her a small smile that could be interpreted as a smirk.

The girl dragged Len out into the hall. Anyone passing by the two would immediately know that it was a confession. And anyone passing by would know that Len would definitely reject her.

"So what do you want?" asked Len, impatiently. He was a bit irritated from being rudely pulled away from his friend without a warning.

"I just wanted to…umm…I want you to know…that…" the girl began nervously, her face turning tomato red. "I want you to accept my feelings…I really, really love y-you."

Len stared at her, his face betraying no emotion at all. Suddenly, he started laughing at her. His laughter echoed across the hallway. The girl who had confessed looked down at the floor, her face turning even redder if that was even possible.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "It's just I already have a girlfriend and I have no intention of breaking up with her."

Both of the people outside in the hall were distracted. Everyone in the classroom was concentrated on the drama unfolding outside in the hallway. No one paid attention to Neru. Neru took this chance to slide something into Rin's desk. She deliberately didn't slide it in all the way, so that it would be noticeable if you went closer to her desk.

_There we go. And good job, first-year. Sorry if you did get rejected._

The girl had run off, embarrassed. She really did fall in love with Len even though she had only glimpsed him a few times during the whole school year. Tears prickled at the back of her eyes. She really shouldn't have been crying because she knew that even if he didn't have girlfriend, Len wouldn't have wanted to go out with her anyways.

Len walked back into the classroom, still chuckling softly to himself. The rest of the class quickly returned to what they had been doing before the freshman had barged into their class. They all pretended to chat while glancing at Len out of the corners of their eyes.

"That was kind of harsh," Luka remarked when he was in earshot. "You laughed at her feelings."

"I couldn't help it. The whole school knows that I'm with Rin and she still comes up to me to confess. It's really stupid, if you think about it."

"Of course it's stupid. That doesn't mean that you can just laugh at someone because they love you."

"Smooth rejection, Len," Akaito butted in. "You just broke another person's heart. That's got to be a quarter of the female population now. I wish I was as popular as you."

"Don't. It gets annoying after a while." Len glanced around the room, wondering if Rin had come in from her trip to the bathroom while the girl was confessing to him. He looked at her desk and saw a few pieces of crumpled up paper sticking out of it. Reaching over, he plucked the sheets of paper out of her desk, curious.

"Wonder what that is," Akaito remarked, suspiciously looking at one of the papers that was pink and full of heart-shaped doodles.

Len picked one up and began reading, having trouble because of all the doodles and smudge marks that covered the page.

_Rin,_

_ I think you are the awesomest girl I have ever met. You are beautiful, energetic, and always thinking positively. We have time after school today so let's meet up in that café – _

Len didn't even finish reading it. He crumpled up the paper, his temper rising. _Calm down_, he told himself. _It might just be a meeting between friends. It's not a love note._

Akaito and Luka had finished skimming most of what he assumed were letters. Len tried to grab one of the letters that Akaito had discarded but Luka stopped him.

"I really suggest you don't," she warned. "You're not going to like what's written on them."

"Are all of those really love notes?"

"No…not exactly," Luka said slowly.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?"

"Because one of them is a half-written reply to one of the letters."

"What? Show – "

"Sorry for keeping you guys waiting! The line for the bathroom was really long for some reason," Rin said, interrupting Len. She walked over to them, not noticing Akaito's frenzied grabbing of the letters and quickly hiding them.

_Of course the line would be really long_, thought Neru. The shadow that her bangs created hid her face. She had her cell phone out so people wouldn't think that she was eavesdropping on the whole conversation.

"Welcome back, Rin," Luka said to her. Luka gently touched Len's knee, telling him that he should calm down and not say anything about what they had found inside her desk.

"Come on, let's go get lunch. I bet Miku and the rest of them are waiting for us!" Rin said to the rest of them. She noticed Neru frantically text messaging someone on her cell phone out of the corner of her eye. "Neru! You have to eat too. You can't keep going on your cell phone all the time."

"Alright, alright. I'm coming…after this," Neru said, frantically typing. Her deft fingers flew over the keypad of the phone and quickly typed a message. She pressed the SEND button and put her phone back into her pocket.

_Stop being so annoyingly nice to everyone!_ Neru wanted to yell.

"Let's go," she told everyone, getting up.

When the five of them got to the cafeteria, Miku and Gumi were already half-finished with their lunches. Kaito was still busy eating ice cream and Gakupo was picking out the eggplants in his bento. Meiko wasn't there – she probably had detention for talking back to a teacher or something.

"You guys are really late," remarked Miku.

"Sorry. They were waiting for me to come back from the bathroom," Rin apologized sheepishly.

"At least the lines for food are shorter now," Luka noticed. "We should be able to get food and finish it soon."

Luka and Len went on the lines to buy their food. Rin and Akaito had their own packed lunches with them. Rin sat down next to Miku, who immediately started up a conversation with her.

"When is the two month anniversary?" Miku asked Rin, curious.

"I think it's tomorrow or the day after. What date is it today?"

"It's the 17th," Neru told them, her cell phone out in her hand.

"Thanks! That means it should be the day after, then," said Rin, thinking. "I wonder what I should buy this time!"

"Oh, I know! Maybe you should…" Miku whispered the rest into Rin's ear when she saw that Len had come back from the line with Luka.

Len slid into the seat closest to the window and farthest from Rin. _What's getting him so worked up?_ Rin wondered. Usually, he stared out the window and didn't talk when he was agitated.

Miku noticed this too and turned away from her sister to talk to Len. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked Len quietly.

"Nothing," he replied curtly. "Why don't you ask your sister?"

"Ask her what?"

"How many other guys is she dating."

"What? She hardly knows anyone else here! How are you so sure that she's dating someone else?" Miku was surprised. Rin just moved here and she didn't know anyone else besides the people around the neighborhood and in the school.

"I'm sure," Len said. Miku made a mental note in her head to ask Rin about this when she got home.

Lunch quickly ended and they all headed back to class. This week had been a monotonous and uneventful one, just like last week and the one before that and the one before that…

"I can't wait until the week ends," grumbled Miku, heading back to her classroom, _extremely_ excited to learn math.

* * *

Neru got home after school from the bubble tea shop that they always went to after school. By now, everyone knew that the booth near the corner belonged to them. Len had been ignoring Rin throughout the whole day and Rin didn't know why. Neru smiled to herself, her plan working.

_Just one last straw and they'll probably break up_, Neru thought. She went to Len's room and turned on the computer that they had shared.

Len walked into her room as the computer started up. He barely glanced at what he was doing and began doing his homework on his bed. The computer started up and Neru typed in the password to her user account and logged in.

"Neru?"

"Yes, Len?"

"I found some love notes in Rin's desk. Do you think that I should break up with her just because of this or should I wait for an explanation when I tell her that I found out?" Len asked suddenly.

Neru was surprised. She didn't expect Len to think about dumping Rin so quickly. _Maybe I don't even need to carry out this plan._

"Well…" Neru began slowly, "I think you should dump her but wait for her explanation first. I think you should break up with her after she explains. After all, you trusted her and she betrayed your trust, right?"

"Hmm…" was all he said.

Neru clicked on the PhotoShop icon on her desktop. She used one of the wires to connect her phone to the computer and scrolled through the pictures she had taken with her phone. She found the one that she had wanted and opened it up using PhotoShop. Clicking on the brush icon in the program, she smiled to herself and began changing Len's appearance in the photo of him kissing Rin.

* * *

**A/N:** I feel bad for making Neru so mean...but she is a jealous and bad-tempered person in general.

I think this fic should be ending soon. This is probably the third-to-last or fourth-to-last chapter. I'm thinking of a sequel but I really don't think that it would work.


	8. Neru's Epic PhotoShop Skills

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update. Graduation took a lot out of me. It was so stinking hot in that stuffy auditorium!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid, Adobe, or anything else used in this fic.

* * *

"Hey, did you see that picture?" asked one girl. She was huddled in a group with her friends.

"Which one?"

"The one with that new girl, Rin, cheating on Len."

"No…show me!"

"I'll send it to you. It's on my phone. Someone anonymously sent it to my phone this morning."

Neru walked past a lot of conversations that went like this. She smirked. _Sooner or later, Len is going to have to see one. Preferably sooner though._

"Hey, Neru? What are you thinking about?" asked Miku, blinking at Neru. "You just zoned out in the middle of the sentence."

"Oh, nothing much. I was just thinking about how we always come to school on time lately," Neru lied.

"Yeah, it's kind of funny how shocked the first period teacher was when she saw that I was already there," Miku said, giggling at the memory.

"Same here!"

The two girls walked up to the school entrance.

"Hey," Miku suddenly started, "did you notice anything strange about Rin?

"No, not really," Neru lied again. Obviously she knew something was strange since she was the one that was causing it.

Over the past two months, Rin had been suffering from what Neru would like to call "extremely bad luck." Her pencil case mysteriously disappeared a few times and ended up in places like the toilet in the boy's bathroom. Some of Rin's books and textbooks had gone missing and she had to buy more. And her homework also vanished and then turns up after class…Yeah, you get the idea.

"Hmm…There's also rumors of Rin cheating on Len too, which would definitely not happen," Miku thought out loud.

Just then, a student ran up to Miku and asked her, "Hey, do you know who your sister is kissing in this picture?" The student held up her cell phone to show Miku. "I think he's pretty cute!"

Miku grabbed the phone from the girl's hands and brought it closer to her face. "I – I'm not exactly…" She trailed off in the middle of her sentence, shocked at what she was seeing.

In the photo on the phone, the girl was definitely Rin. But the guy she was kissing in the picture wasn't Len…

"Isn't that person one of the teachers in our school?" exclaimed Neru, peeking over Miku's shoulder.

"Really?" asked the owner of the phone. She grabbed it out of Miku's hands and ran off to tell her friends what she had found out.

Miku stared blankly at her empty hands. Her brain was still trying to process what she had seen in the picture. _That's not Rin, that's not Rin, that's not Rin_, she thought to herself over and over again. It didn't work.

"There's no way that the girl in the picture could be Rin! It's got to be some long lost twin or a distant relative or something!" Miku said, turning toward Neru.

"I don't think so. It really does look like here," Neru said, frowning, with the right amount of doubt in her voice. Those times she spent in the drama club really did pay off.

"What if Len sees? That'll be the end of it. Len was already mad at her yesterday. Do you know why?" she asked Neru.

"I'm not really sure. It was something about trusting her." Neru glanced around, looking just like a person who was about to tell her friend some deep, dark secret.

"What is it?"

"I heard Len grumbling about Rin cheating. I think he's planning to break up with her or something," Neru whispered softly into Miku's ear. Everyone around them wondered what they were talking about since Neru was Len's sister and lived under the same roof as him.

"There's no way she even has a chance to cheat. She's been so busy with the drama club and then she comes straight home. Any other time, she's either with Len or at home."

"Are you sure she actually goes to the drama club meetings?" Neru asked Miku, raising an eyebrow. "No one actually goes to every one of those meetings. They usually skip or something."

"Eh..? But Rin told me that she had a lot of fun. I don't think she would skip. And she's not a liar either." Miku narrowed her eyes at Neru. "Why are you so positive that Rin did all these bad things? Are you jealous or something?"

Miku had hit the nail on the head. Neru _was_ jealous of RIn. _Extremely jealous_.

"No…" Neru said a bit too quickly. Miku looked at her strangely, obviously not believing her. However, she decided to ignore it.

_If Neru really is Rin's twin sister, then I don't think Neru would do anything bad to Rin. After all, they are family_, thought Miku.

Miku obviously thought wrong.

* * *

"Good morning, Akaito, Luka," Rin said as she came into the classroom, alone.

"Where's Len today?" asked Luka, putting down the book she was reading.

"I'm not sure. He mumbled something about a student council meeting. I don't even think he's on the student council," Rin replied, shrugging. Len had told her to meet him in the café nearby after school. Rin had agreed, mentally noting to make up an excuse or feign sickness to get out of the drama club.

Luka and Akaito exchanged glances, knowing that Len wasn't on the student council. They knew exactly why Len didn't come with Rin today. And so did Neru.

"Hey, did Len talk to you at all yesterday?" asked Akaito.

"Not really. Whenever I started talking to him, he gave me some kind of death glare. But he talked to Miku though. I think he's mad at me for some reason. Do you know why?" asked Rin with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Umm…you do know the rumors that are going around right?" Luka asked Rin slowly.

"Like?" Rin frowned, wondering what she was talking about.

"You cheating on Len and sleeping with a teacher or something," Luka said, not bothering to soften her words. Luka pulled out her phone and scrolled through her pictures and showed Rin the same picture that had been spreading around the school like a virus.

Rin grabbed at the phone, like Miku did in the morning. "Is that me?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it is. I also got that photo. I think most of the school and even some of the teachers have it. It's been going around since last night," Akaito chimed in.

"Even the teachers?" Rin mumbled. She was dead, so very dead. The guy she was kissing in the photo looked like Mr. Hiyama, her social studies teacher!

"I think so. I was passing by one of the teacher's rooms and some of them were gossiping on how Mr. Hiyama would be fired or something," replied Akaito.

"Did Len receive one?" asked Rin, her voice revealing the panic she felt inside.

"Probably," replied Luka. "It's been spreading around quickly and whoever sent the first picture sent a message saying 'Pass this on' or something like that."

"Do you know who sent it to everyone?" Desperation crept onto her face, knowing that she would be in trouble if this was shown to the school board or administration. Her reputation would also be destroyed.

"If I did, that person would be suspended for cyber-bullying and getting into a good college would be hard for him or her."

The classroom door opened and Mr. Hiyama walked in. "Get into your seats and take out last night's homework," he ordered the class. The whole class scurried to do what he told them to do, hearing the anger in his voice.

Rin quickly walked over to her seat, sliding into it and taking out her homework. Mr. Hiyama walked over to the teacher's desk in the front of the room and put all his lesson plans onto the desk. Looking up, he met Rin's eyes and glared. Rin gulped, wanting to slide down in her seat. She looked down to her desk, her bangs shielding her face.

_This is going to be a long day_, thought Rin nervously.

* * *

Rin sighed, relieved that school was over. She glanced toward Len who was sitting next to her.

_He still didn't say a word to me. I wonder if we're still meeting at the café after school_…

Rin got up from her seat and pushed in her chair. Len did the same and waited for Rin to gather her books by the doorway. When Rin approached him, he turned and started walking down the stairs, Rin following.

"Len?" She stopped at the entrance of the school.

"Yes?" He also stopped and turned to her.

Rin was surprised. She wasn't expecting a reply from him. "Umm…I-In case you heard those rumors…I wanted you to know t-that they aren't true," she managed to say, staring at her feet. She bit her lip, imagining Len's doubtful face.

"I see…" he said, looking away. Rin looked up at him, knowing that he definitely didn't believe her.

"Let's go," she said, pulling on his arm, trying to get him moving again.

Len pulled away from her touch and began walking toward the café once more. Rin followed, facing the ground so her hair would cover her reddening face.

They got to the café in a few minutes. Len chose a booth in the back corner of the café, where no one would be able to overhear them talking unless they were sitting next to or behind them.

"What do you want to drink?" asked Len brusquely, gesturing toward the menu.

"Umm…I'll just have water."

Len began to order. "I'll have a cappuccino and she'll have a glass of water." The waitress began jotting their orders down. A minute later, she came back with the drinks. Winking at Len, she turned away to take another table's orders.

"So…" Len started to say. "I'm thinking of breaking up."

"What?" exclaimed Rin, not believing what she had heard. "I told you that all those rumors weren't true and that photo was definitely fake! I didn't cheat on you and I definitely didn't sleep with another teacher!"

"Really now? I have evidence right here," Len said, reaching for his bag. He had placed the love notes he found in Rin's desk into his bag this morning. Now, he took them out and showed them to Rin.

Rin took them from his hands, wondering what it was. She skimmed through the pieces of paper, surprised. "But…these aren't mine!"

"Really? I found them in your desk, you know? How are they not yours?"

"I-I don't know who wrote these but they're definitely not mine!" Rin felt tears prickling. She felt like the Boy who cried wolf, although in this case, she didn't cry wolf – the villagers had assumed she did.

"Stop lying to me. I'm not stupid. Why don't you tell me who wrote these to you?" asked Len calmly.

"Like I said, they're fake. I don't know."

"Did you really sleep with Mr. Hiyama? You two were kissing in the photo. How many other guys did you go out with behind my back?"

"I DIDN'T, I DIDN'T, I DIDN'T!" yelled Rin, finally losing it. She started sobbing and customers stared at the two, watching the drama unfold. "Why won't you believe me?" asked Rin, getting up and grabbing her bag. She ran out of the café toward home, where she could sob into a pillow.

Len watched her storm out the door and she disappeared. He tilted his head back, still sipping his cappuccino.

_Did I go too far? Was she telling the truth?_

In the heat of the argument they had, not one of them noticed Miku in the booth behind them. Miku had the menus propped up so they wouldn't see her when they had come in. Miku left, leaving money and the tip on the table.

Len noticed Miku leaving. Who wouldn't recognize the two long, teal ponytails that swung whenever she walked?

* * *

Miku got home and unlocked the door to her house. "I'm home!" she called out to her parents.

"Hush, your mom is on the phone," Mr. Hatsune told her, pointing to where her mother was pacing around, phone cradled between her ear and shoulder.

"What do you mean 'sleeping with a teacher'? Rin always came straight home after school!" Mrs. Hatsune said to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

_Oh, no. They called home too_, Miku thought.

"Mmhmm. Hmm. Oh." Mrs. Hatsune finished talking. She put down the phone on the table. "RIN HATSUNE! YOU BETTER COME OUT OF YOUR ROOM AND GET DOWNSTAIRS NOW!"

The door upstairs creaked open. Footsteps were heard and the stairs creaked when Rin stepped on them. "Yes, Mom?" asked Rin, holding a tissue in her hand.

"The school just called me and said you and a teacher from the school were…in a relationship. Is that true?" asked Mrs. Hatsune angrily.

"No, it's not. It's just a rumor because some stupid picture went around."

"Picture? What picture?" asked Mr. Hatsune curiously.

"This one." Miku took out her phone and scrolled through it. She found the photo that she was looking for and showed it to her parents. Mr. Hatsune stared at it for a long minute.

"Doesn't that kind of look like the boy you were dating?" he asked slowly. "Only, he dyed his hair and is wearing contacts now…"

Miku got her phone back and looked at the photo again. "Actually, yeah…Looks like someone is really good with PhotoShop in our school."

"What else did the school say?" Rin asked quietly.

Mrs. Hatsune turned red with anger for a moment. "They. Expelled. You."

Rin gaped at her mother, shocked. She knew that she would be in trouble, she didn't know that she would be _expelled_ for something like this. After all, she never did kiss Mr. Hiyama or any other teacher.

"Anything else?" asked Rin softly. Her throat felt tight and tears came to her eyes again.

"The teacher, Kiyoteru Hiyama or something, is being interviewed now and if it is true than he will be fired. Even if it isn't true, he's probably going to quit and work at a different school," replied Mrs. Hatsune. She grabbed the phone again and began to dial.

Rin sat down on the couch, silent. Tears streamed down her face. She didn't bother to wipe them since there would only be more. Just as quietly, Miku sat down next to her, giving Rin a hug.

"It'll be alright," whispered Miku, arms still wrapped around Rin.

Rin didn't reply. She stared at her feet but she returned the hug.

"Sorry to bother you, but could you please call back whenever you have time? Something came up." Mrs. Hatsune left a message to whoever she had just called. She put down the phone. "Rin, just go to your room and stay there until dinner or something. I need to think."

Rin obediently got up from the couch and walked back upstairs to her room. The door was closed shut. Miku soon followed, wanting to comfort her sister.

She walked upstairs and quietly knocked on the bedroom door. Hearing no reply, she walked in and closed it behind her. Rin was curled up on her bed, pillow hugged to her chest. There was a pile of tissues around the trash can since it was already full. Miku sighed, cleaning it up.

"Rin, it's going to be alright. Mom and Dad are going to do something to get you in school again!" Miku reassured her cheerfully.

Rin hiccupped, not replying. Miku walked over to Rin's bed, sitting down. She reached over and began patting Rin's head. "This is just like when we were in fifth grade and you were nervous on your first day of school, remember?"

Rin nodded slowly, burying her face into the pillow she was hugging. Soon the pillowcase darkened with even more tears.

"M-Miku?"

"I'm right here, Rin."

"Could y-you please…keep doing that?" asked Rin, voice muffled from the pillow.

"Sure," replied Miku. She kept patting Rin on the head and reminiscing about their childhood together.

"Hey, do you remember anything before you were adopted?" asked Miku, feeling that Rin had calmed down a bit.

Rin paused before giving Miku a muffled "No."

Miku nodded to herself. "Hey, it's time for dinner now. Do you want to go downstairs or should I bring something upstairs?"

"I'll go down." Rin got up from the bed and went down the hall to the bathroom to splash her face with cold water. She fixed her hair so that her signature bow wasn't askew and that the clips were in the right place. She walked downstairs with Miku and to the dining room.

Rin sat down silently next to Miku. Across from her sat her mother and Rin couldn't bear to look at her in the face.

"Oh, Rin. I called your grandmother earlier but she didn't pick up. She's probably going to call sometime soon. Be sure to pick it up," Mrs. Hatsune told her.

Rin just nodded.

"Alright, then. Let's eat," Mrs. Hatsune suggested, smiling softly.

"_Itedakima – _" The phone rang, interrupting them. Rin got up from her chair and went to the living room to pick of the phone.

"Hello?" she whispered softly into the phone.

"Rin? Is that you? My, my, it really is great to hear you voice again," her grandmother said over the phone. "I heard something occurred. Would you like to tell me what happened over there?"

"Well, I don't know where to begin…"

"Just start from the beginning. Is it that boy you're dating? Last time you called, you seemed so happy that you were going out with him."

"Err…well, in a way, yes. There have been rumors going around school that I've been cheating and then today, this photo came up with me kissing some other person and that other person looks like a teacher from the school, and then…" It all slipped out of Rin's mouth. Her grandmother was the type of person who could wheedle anything out of a person.

"And then…?"

"I got expelled," Rin finished flatly.

"So, what would you like to do now?"

"I-I'm not exactly sure. I don't want to stay here but I don't exactly have any other place to go in Japan…"

"You can always come back here. If I'm here, then you'll always have another home here. Besides, I believe that your flight ticket home expires in December. It's only November now. You can still come back." Rin could hear the hopefulness in her grandmother's voice when she suggested that.

"I'll see what I can do. It was nice talking to you, Grandma. Good night."

"Good night. Remember, you'll always have a home here." Rin hung up and went back to the dining room.

"So? What did she say?" asked Mr. Hatsune.

"She said I could go back to America and live with her if I wanted to," replied Rin. To her mother, she asked, "Could I?"

Her parents exchanged a glance. "I don't see why not…" Mr. Hatsune began. "It's not like another school would accept you with that scandal on your record."

"That's true," Mrs. Hatsune agreed. "Well, let's start packing."

Miku picked up her chopsticks and began to eat, suspicions forming at the back of her mind.

_When Neru invited me over to her house, she did have that PhotoShop program right? And when Neru sees both of them kissing, she just stops in mid-sentence and stares…could it be Neru that was trying to break them up?_

_

* * *

_

**A/N:** This seemed so majorly rushed and repetitive. I deleted this like three times too. Sorry for any errors since I was rushing to finish it.

This is going to be the second to last chapter. And there will be an alternate ending to this. I'm hoping to finish this before I leave on vacation.

_Gomenasai_ for the late update! D: Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome.


	9. Confessions of a PhotoShop Pro

**A/N:** I decided to split this last chapter into two parts since you guys are impatient for the last chapter and it would've been really long too.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or Adobe and anything else that I mentioned in this fic.

* * *

Miku waited at the corner of Len and Neru's home, an envelope in her hand. She sighed, already impatient.

Rin had left for the airport this morning after hastily calling the airport to see if they had any seats left for the plane heading to America.

"Give this to Len," she had said before hopping into the car waiting on the street. Rin had stuffed the envelope into Miku's hands. Before Miku could protest, Rin was already in the car, waving good-bye.

Now, Miku waited at the corner for Len to come by. She really didn't want to see him after he had hurt her sister. She sighed again, still waiting.

After a few more minutes, Len came storming up the sidewalk and past Miku.

"Good – " Miku tried to say. Len breezed past her, not listening. _Well, he's in a good mood_, thought Miku.

Another minute passed and Neru walked slowly to the corner, her phone out in her hand.

"Good morning, Neru," Miku said. "What happened to Len?"

"Oh. He's just really angry about something," Neru replied nonchalantly. She was staring at her phone, fingers moving quickly over the keypad.

"And what exactly is that 'something'?" Miku asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't exactly know. It was something about Rin and the break-up," Neru replied. She put her phone back into her skirt pocket. "Come on, let's go."

Miku narrowed her eyes but began walking. "Hey, are you good with PhotoShop?" Miku asked suddenly, ducking into the alley with Neru.

"Eh? I'm not too good with it. I can edit but I'm horrible with rendering and the really advanced things. Do you want me to help you with something?"

"No, no. I just saw the program on your computer and I was wondering if you would teach me some of the basics," Miku lied. She honestly didn't care about the computer program. If she needed to edit something, she'll just hand-draw it.

"Sure, of course! Next time you come to my house, alright?" Neru looked back and grinned at her.

* * *

"Good morning, Len," Akaito greeted him. "Where's Rin today?"

"Don't know," Len mumbled. "I dumped her."

"What?" asked Luka, looking up from the new book she had purchased yesterday. Normally, it was kind of hard to get Luka to pay attention to you after she had bought a new book, especially an _interesting_ book. This time was different though.

Len sighed and repeated himself. "I dumped her. We're over. We broke up. How many other ways should I say it?"

"No, no, that's good enough," Luka said quickly. She arched an eyebrow. "You seem to be in a bad mood today. Why's that?"

"Nothing," he replied curtly.

Truthfully, though, it wasn't 'nothing.' Neru had been acting a bit too "giddy" than normal yesterday…

_"Hey, Len. Welcome back!" she had greeted him with a smile when he came back from the café._

_Len, of course, had ignored her. Neru didn't normally greet him when he came home late and she never really SMILED at him. Her smile reminded him of the Cheshire cat, innocent but with some intention behind it._

_"What happened? Your face is all red," she commented._

_"I broke up with Rin," he replied, taking off his shoes and going up the stairs._

_Neru followed him like a puppy upstairs. "How? And why? I thought you loved her."_

_"'Loved' being the key word in the sentence. As for how and why, I'll tell you later if I feel like it," Len said, trudging up the stairs and going to his room._

_He dropped his bag at the foot of his bed and flopped onto the bed, his back on the soft mattress. He picked up the graphic novel that he had been reading on his bedside table and began to flip through it, the characters swimming off the pages._

_A knock was heard on the door. "Len?" It was Neru. Len sighed; she had been pestering him more than usual._

_"Come in," he responded, knowing that Neru would've came in no matter what he said._

_"So tell me how you broke up with her," Neru had begged, a bit more eager than normal. She was jumping up and down on his bed, causing him to be bounced up and down as well._

_"Do you really want to know?" he asked her, voice shaking from the vibrations of Neru jumping up and down the bed._

_"Yes, I do. In fact, give me every little detail you can remember."_

_"Ugh…Alright, fine," agreed Len, knowing that Neru wouldn't stop bothering him unless he spilled the beans. When she was determined to get something out of you, she would continuously bother the person or spam him or her with a load of text messages. Len didn't want either of those happening to him anytime soon…_

_"I asked her to come by to that small café a block away from the school and…" Len went on and on, telling Neru what had happened in the café with Rin, how she got angry and just ran out. "…and Miku was spying on us. I saw her walk out and after that I just came back home."_

_Neru listened carefully, interrupting him from time to time to ask questions like, "Was I mentioned during the conversation?" and "Did you find out who was the real person in the photo?"_

_To those questions, Len had answered truthfully. "No," he had said, shaking his head._

_Inwardly, he had wondered to himself, "Why did she ask those strange questions? And why did she even want to know what happened? It's not like Rin was my first girlfriend…"_

"Len!" yelled a voice, snapping him out of his dream-like state.

"Hmm…?" He turned to the door and saw Miku standing there.

Miku walked over to him and handed the envelope over to him. "Here, it's from Rin." She thrust it into his hands and sat down in a nearby chair. "I want to see you open it and read it."

Len laughed silently to himself. Of course, Miku knew that he would've tossed it out the first chance he got if she didn't personally see him read it. Len sighed and slid his finger into the fold of the seal and opened it. Taking out the note inside, he read to himself.

_To Len,_

_ If you're reading this, then that means that I've probably left for the airport or I'm on the plane. I understand if you're mad at me but I just wanted to let you know that I never betrayed you and never thought of betraying you._

_ I understand if you don't trust me too. I know that trust is something that takes a while to build up but takes a second to break. I just want to ask you to forgive me, even if it won't be too easy._

_ And remember that conversation we had about previous lives during our one month anniversary? I promise, the next time I come back, that I will know about that previous life and remember._

_Love, Rin_

Len finished reading it and remembered that conversation he had had with Rin. Len had asked her if she remembered anything from childhood.

_"No, but I feel as if I knew you from somewhere, like before I was born. That kind of feeling, like knowing someone from a previous life and then dying just to be reborn in the future," she had answered._

_Len had then told her about his childhood with a girl he also knew named Rin and how she disappeared._

_"She literally went_ poof_! The firefighters didn't find a child's body in the rubble and they dug for quite a while," Len had told her._

_Len still didn't know if Rin had believed him or not. She only nodded and changed the subject._

He skimmed the note that Rin had written again. This time, his eyes focused on the word "left."

"She's leaving?" he asked Miku incredulously. "Back to America?"

Miku nodded solemnly. "They expelled her from the school because of that photo. She didn't have many options," she told him softly.

Neru came up beside Miku and gave her a small hug. "But she'll be back right? She can't stay in America forever." She looked truly concerned.

"I hope so," whispered Miku to herself.

Turning away from Miku and everyone else, Neru smirked. However, Luka, who was up in the front talking to a few classmates, noticed.

Right before going to lunch, Luka grabbed Len's arm. "I need to talk to you _alone_," she said softly so that only he could hear.

Len was surprised. "Alright," he replied.

Neru came up behind him. "Let's go downstairs for food," she said smiling sweetly at him.

"You can go ahead. I'll catch up. I have an errand to run," he lied to her. It wasn't exactly a lie since he did have to give something to his math teacher.

He watched as Neru disappeared down the stairs and turned back to the classroom, looking for Luka. Approaching her, he asked, "What did you want?"

"Was Neru acting weird yesterday?" Luka asked softly so that everyone around them wouldn't accidentally overhear.

"A bit. She told me to give her every detail of how I broke up with Rin and asked me stuff about it too," he said shrugging. "I wonder why she asked me if I knew who the real person in the photo was."

"Who the _real_ person was?" Luka narrowed her eyes. "Then the person in the photo wasn't really Mr. Hiyama."

"I don't know…"

"You do know how to use that photo editing thing that you have on your computer, right?" asked Luka after thinking for a minute. "Does Neru know how to use it?"

"Yeah, I was the one who taught her. She doesn't really use it much though."

"When you go home, look through her files on the computer. Maybe there's something she recently edited."

* * *

"Hey, Neru. I need to use the computer. Is that alright with you?" asked Len when they got to their house.

"Eh? You're actually doing that extra credit project?"

"Uh…yeah," Len said, not knowing what the heck she was talking about. It seemed like a good excuse though.

"Alright then. I'll just ask Dad for his laptop if I need to do anything," Neru agreed.

Len headed upstairs for his room. He booted up the computer, fingers tapping impatiently on the table. He quickly typed in the password and waited for it to start up.

He opened Neru's file and quickly looked through it for any PSD files. He found one that was very recent and double clicked it.

The picture opened, showing the photo of Rin with the person that was not Len. Quickly, he used the history brush and undid everything that Neru had done to the picture.

As he finished clearing away the colors and renders that Neru did to the photo, he gasped.

It was just a picture of him and Rin. Neru had only darkened his hair and eyes and cut away parts of the hair and clothing to make it look like Mr. Hiyama. The background was also rendered and re-colored to make it look as if it was somewhere dark. Neru even had enough skill to put in a pair of glasses at the right angle to make it look real.

_This is almost expert PhotoShop-ping if it wasn't for the fact that she forgot the history brush and the layers_, thought Len, impressed with Neru's work.

Even though he was impressed, he was very angry that Neru had sent this around. Going through more of her files, he found her diary that was stored on the computer. Opening the file, he skimmed through it.

_Is she serious?_ Len wondered as he scrolled down. Opening the browser, he sent the file to Miku with a message.

A few minutes later, he got a reply via text message.

_Don't rush ahead when we walk to school tomorrow morning._

_

* * *

_

The next morning, Miku waited anxiously for the Kagamine siblings to arrive. She shifted from foot to foot, wondering on how to confront Neru. Len would be on her side though.

She had read the journal entries that Len had sent her over and over again, making sure that she wasn't imagining the words that were on her screen.

_And to think, she was Rin's biological sister_, thought Miku furiously.

"Good morning…Miku…" Neru trailed off. "Is there something wrong?" Miku didn't look as bright as normal. Neru wasn't even greeted with her normally chipper "Good morning!"

"Of course there is," answered Len bluntly, knowing full well what was going on.

"Neru…answer me truthfully," demanded Miku. "What did you do to Rin?"

"Eh? To Rin? Nothing. Why would I want to do something to her? I don't have anything against her," Neru answered, a confused look spreading on her face. _Do they already know? But how?_

"You were jealous of her," Len answered. Taking out his phone he showed the two photos to Neru. "Tell me how this photo changed to this one."

"Wow. That's really good editing. Are you sure it's the same picture?" asked Neru, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Neru, you forgot about the history brush, did you? And the layers panel…"

Neru's face reddened in realization and in embarrassment.

"And there's this too," Miku said, taking out her phone and showing Neru the e-mail with the attached files to her. Neru immediately recognized the file that was being shown.

"Len, you looked through my diary?" Neru was appalled, face turning redder if that was even possible. The only reason she had kept her diary on the computer was because she was positive that Len wouldn't look through it. He wasn't the type to just go through other people's property.

"Of course. I needed to know and you pour everything into that thing."

"Well, now you know about how I feel about you. Well?" Neru arched an eyebrow, waiting for an answer. She felt the heat in her cheeks grow even warmer but you couldn't tell if she was blushing deeper. Her cheeks had reached their limit.

Len snorted. "You actually think that after I found out about all those things you did that I would trust you?"

"Of course not. I don't trust you either. You actually looked through my documents!" She turned toward Miku. "Miku? Next time you contact Rin, tell her I'm sorry. I really am."

"Umm…the thing is I can't. She went to some boarding school somewhere and I can't seem to get in touch with her. Believe me, I tried," Miku told them. She started chewing on a lock of her teal hair - a habit that had formed whenever she was anxious.

"Looks like she pulled another disappearance act on us." Len sighed. "How are we going to get her back now?"

"We can only wait," Neru said softly. She was still hurting from Len rejecting her but what hurt her more was the realization of how much pain she had caused Rin. Neru was the one who had driven her back to America. _And I'm supposed to be her elder sister too!_

_How long are we supposed to wait?_ Len looked up at the sky, searching for some sort of sign.

There was none.

* * *

**A/N:** Part 1 of the ending done! I'm hoping to finish the second part today since I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow. The alternate ending should be written and up over the next two weeks.


	10. The Gift That Lasts Forever

**A/N:** This is the end! Well, the fluffy one.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or anything else used in this fic.

This chapter is dedicated to **Kinshima** for being an awesome reader and always pointing out my mistakes.

* * *

Len woke up to the alarm, just like every other morning. Rolling out of bed, he looked at the calendar that was hanging on the back of the door. It was mid-July, almost the beginning of the month-long summer vacation.

Yawning, he trudged to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and washed his face sleepily. Summer was getting to him.

As he walked out of the bathroom, Neru opened the door to her room, rubbing her eyes. "Morning," she mumbled, nodding to him.

"Morning to you too," he said, ducking into his room to get dressed. He closed the door, the calendar on the back swinging. The calendar was covered with red X's. Len grabbed a red pen from his desk and crossed out yesterday's date. He tossed the pen back onto his desk and began changing into his school uniform.

He grabbed his bag from the foot of the doorway and went downstairs for breakfast. As he was finishing, Neru trudged down the stairs, her side ponytail slightly askew.

"Hurry up with breakfast. You always keep Miku waiting!" he told her. Yes, it was a normal morning in the Kagamine house.

Neru gulped down her breakfast quickly and put the bowls and dishes in the sink, leaving them there until she came back in the afternoon. She rushed to get her bag and put on her shoes. Together, the two walked out to the corner where Miku waited for them.

"Good morning, you two!" Miku greeted them both with a smile.

"Any news from her?" Neru asked, concerned. She was referring to Rin who was still in America.

"No. I thought she would come over the summer since school already let out there," Miku replied glumly, her smile disappearing.

"Don't worry. She'll come back soon. And this time, with her memories," Len remarked, remembering her promise from the note.

"Mmhmm." The trio walked toward the school together like they had for the past eight months.

"It's going to be vacation soon!" Miku said cheerfully. "It's not fair how they already are on vacation in America." She pouted for a minute and then smiled serenely.

"Yippee. Vacation. Which means homework," Neru said in a bored voice while text messaging someone on her phone.

Len snorted at Neru's remark. For every summer since she was adopted into his family, Neru had always copied Len's homework…which was how she got into the best class in the school.

"Stop complaining about the homework. It's not like you're doing it yourself," he said to her.

"Hey, I try, at least!"

"No, you don't even bother! You're always messaging with someone on that phone of yours."

The argument went on and on with Miku's begging for peace between the two.

"Neru, you can always ask Len to tutor you instead of copying his homework!" she said in an attempt to stop the bickering. However, just like always, it was ignored.

In between all the dispute and Miku's attempts to make peace, not one of them noticed the plane that was flying overhead.

Rin got off the plane, excited to see everyone. School had let out a bit late because she had to stay for summer school since she didn't exactly do too well on one of the exams.

She walked outside, immediately feeling the change in temperature. The plane had been fairly cool while outside was humid and hot due to the hot July sun. Rin carried her carry-on luggage in one hand and stepped into the bus that would take her to the airport.

The bus engine rumbled to life, letting out exhaust that was hazardous to the environment. It began moving, taking the passengers around the still planes. Within minutes, they were at the airport.

Rin stepped inside, feeling the breeze from the air conditioning. _I'm back in Japan again!_

She followed the crowd to where she would pick up her baggage. The conveyor belt belched out a couple of bags every minute but none of them were hers. She dug through her purse, searching for her cell phone. Rin turned it on and began to dial Mrs. Hatsune's number.

"I'm back," she told her adoptive mother as soon as she picked up.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've been there to pick you up!"

"No, I have money for the taxi. I have something I want to take care of before going home. And don't tell anyone. I want it to be a surprise," Rin said into the phone, checking her watch. School would be letting out in about an hour and a half. She had plenty of time.

Closing the lid of her phone, she glanced at the suitcases that were going around. She finally recognized own suitcase: the only one that was yellow. Rin grabbed it and dragged it off the belt. She turned it on an angle so that it would roll behind her.

Rin headed for the customs office, looking at the airport signs. She headed towards the shortest line there was and showed the officer her passport and other documents that she had filled out to travel between countries.

The customs officer inspected all of the papers carefully. Finally he raised the giant stamp and stamped one of the pages of the passport, signaling that she could go.

"Enjoy your stay here," he told her.

"Thank you," Rin said, smiling.

Her stomach rumbled. She barely ate anything on the plane – it had smelled horrible and had tasted horrible. _How can you even call that food?_

She followed her nose, smelling a McDonald's or Burger King nearby. Her mouth watered for some of those golden fries and juicy burgers.

Rin waited patiently on the long line that was full of children and their parents who also had the same idea of eating at McDonald's. There were quite a lot of spills due to impatient children and bawling from the children that got wet from the spills. Finally, it was her turn to order.

"Just give me the number one meal," she said to the tired-looking cashier.

"Drink?"

"I'll have orange juice," Rin answered, naming her favorite drink.

Her meal arrived in a minute. Rin sat down at an empty table and unwrapped her burger.

"_Itedekimasu_," she said to herself softly, opening her mouth and taking a bite out of the big hamburger.

She finished her meal quickly, gulping it down as if there was no tomorrow. She took big sips of her juice and finished that too. Rin threw out her garbage and left the plastic tray on the top of the trash can.

Walking outside of the airport, she waved her hand, signaling for a taxi. One taxi driver saw her and stopped near where she was.

Rin put her luggage into the trunk and slammed it shut. She hopped into the passenger seat, telling the driver, "To Seihou High School please."

The school bell rang, signaling the end to another monotonous day of school.

"Three more days until the end," muttered Len to himself. He looked to his left, still not used to the empty seat that had been Rin's.

"I have to go to that student council meeting," Luka told them. "I won't be able to go to the bubble tea place."

"Alright then. Have fun," Akaito said, being slightly sarcastic.

"Oh, I will," Luka answered, getting out of her seat and walking toward the student council room.

"Must be tiring to have to go there close to the end of school. Luckily the volleyball season already ended," remarked Neru after Luka had left the room.

"Yeah," agreed Len, tearing his eyes away from the vacated seat. "Let's go," he said, getting up from his seat.

"Gumi's going to be mad if we don't make it. Remember last time? She totally freaked!" Akaito laughed.

"I swear, her eyes turned red like a demon or something," added Neru. "Just because we forgot to tell her we were busy. I got spammed by her."

They were at the front gates of the school. A car honked and the door opened.

"_Onee-chan_! Len! Akaito!" Rin came bounding out of the taxi and ran over to hug them.

"You remember now?" asked Neru, who was surprised that Rin would remember to call her "_onee-chan_."

"Yep! Everything! I told you I would be back with my memories." Rin hugged her tightly, cutting off Neru's air supply.

"RIN! You're back!" Miku came up from behind, dropping her bag and running towards Rin.

Rin let go of Neru ("Thank god," panted Neru, desperately sucking air into her deprived lungs) and ran towards Miku. The two girls met in a big hug.

"I missed you! You didn't answer any of the e-mails I sent you and Grandma said that you didn't have a phone!"

"We weren't allowed to have a phone and the school's Internet is messed up. It works on some days and doesn't work on others."

The two girls seemed to be in their own little universe, catching up on what happened during the eight months they had been apart. The taxi driver honked the horn, wondering if his client had left him with her luggage still in the trunk.

"Oh, let me get my stuff." Rin ran off to pay the driver and took out her suitcase and duffle bag from the trunk of the taxi. Len came over and took her suitcase and carried it to the sidewalk, where it wouldn't be in danger of getting run over by a car.

"Thanks," she smiled at him, the same smile that she always had when they went out together. Len flushed slightly.

"No problem," he mumbled, blushing even more.

"Ooh…Maybe we should give the two some alone time," Akaito whispered loudly to Miku, tugging on her sleeve. Len and Rin both flushed red when they heard his comment.

"Okay!" Miku said happily. Turning toward the two blondes, she said, "We'll tell Gumi that you came back and are 'bonding.'" She smiled deviously and headed toward the bubble tea shop with Akaito.

Neru looked up from her phone. She only pulled out her phone so that it would look like she was busy.

"Umm…" she spoke up. Rin turned to her and tilted her head, wondering what Neru had to say. "I'm…sorry," she said, feeling the guilt creep up again.

"For what?" asked Rin, confused.

"It's a long story," Len answered. "One that you can tell later. Let's just say that it caused us to fall apart."

Rin's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Er…yea. I was really jealous and everything…" Neru trailed off, face flushing from embarrassment.

"You don't have to tell me. I forgive you," Rin told her sister gently.

"But you don't even know what I did!" she exclaimed.

"I forgive since you're my twin. I can't stay mad at you forever! That would be like being mad at myself since we're two halves of a whole."

"You could learn a lesson or two from her," whispered Len. That just made Neru flush redder.

"Well, excuse me for not being as nice and forgiving. One of us has to be the tough one," Neru said as she stormed away.

An awkward silence filled the air after Neru left.

"Umm…" Rin said in an attempt to break the silence. "I'm sorry?" The statement came out as a question.

"It's not your fault. It's mine for not believing you," Len replied. "I should be the one that's sorry and I am."

Rin felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. _He forgave me,_ she thought happily. The awkwardness soon disappeared when she realized this.

"I have a present for you that I couldn't give during our two month anniversary," Rin said suddenly.

"Eh? What is it?"

"It's something that lasts forever. Close your eyes."

Len obliged, closing his eyes but leaving them open for a fraction.

"No peeking!" Rin said, elbowing him lightly in the side.

"Alright! Just hurry up!" Len shut his eyes all the way this time.

Rin stood on her toes, reaching up to cup his face in her hands, bringing her face close to his. "The gift that lasts forever…is my love for you," she said sealing the gap between their faces with a kiss.

**.Fin.**

* * *

**A/N:** I'm actually debating whether to write a sequel with Neru as the main character...And there will be an alternate ending to this in a week or so.

Thank you for your awesome reviews! 8D They really make my day.


	11. Alternate Ending

**A/N: **Continued from Chapter 8. Dang, it's like a month late...Sorry...

And also, if you didn't know, if you save a file on PhotoShop, the default is a .psd file...Just thought you should know since those stand out a lot more the J-PEGs and GIFs.

**This is an alternate ending, meaning that you can pretty much forget what you read in the last two chapters.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vocaloid or anything else used in this fic.

Dedicated to anyone who read all the way up to here.

* * *

Rin climbed into the taxi that came to bring her to the airport the next day. She watched as her adoptive father and the driver load all of her luggage into the trunk of the vehicle. She glanced toward the blue, cloudless sky.

_Perfect weather for flying_, she thought, feeling her eyes about to tear again. Rin had thought she cried everything out last night, but obviously, she had more in her.

The trunk door slammed shut and the driver got into his seat in the front.

"Going to the airport, huh?" asked the driver, turning the ignition key.

Rin nodded, knowing that he would see through the rear view mirror.

"Traveling at such an age must be nice," he mused. Noticing her puffy, red eyes, he quickly added, "But there will be things that you have to leave behind."

"Yeah," she agreed, staring out the window as they slowly made their way out of the neighborhood. "Yeah."

* * *

Len woke early. Yawning and stretching, he walked over to his computer. He pressed the power button, knowing that he still had homework to finish. Usually, he would be done in a night, but he had spent most of last night thinking instead of on his homework.

The computer whirred and soon started up. Len typed in his password and logged on. He went to his documents to open the blank word document he had started last night. However, when he scrolled down, he noticed something new in the file.

A new .psd file.

Len was sure that he hadn't done any PhotoShop-ping in the past week. Curiously, he hovered his mouse cursor over the file and double clicked it to open it.

He waited for the program to open up, drumming his fingers on the desk and wondering what would it be. The file itself was titled "lenxrin_changed."

The file opened. Len's eyes widened with surprise at what he saw. It was the picture that went around school via cell phone yesterday.

He glanced at the bottom right corner where the layers panel was. There were a few layers there, including a black and white layer and a few other color layers. Quickly, he hid them by clicking the little eye next to the layer name. Then he used the history brush and got rid of all

the other colors that was applied to it.

After a few minutes of editing, Len soon saw the original picture. Instead of a picture of Rin and Mr. Hiyama, it was just a picture of him and Rin.

Len felt his blood run cold, immediately regretting what he had said to Rin in the cafe yesterday afternoon. He silently cursed at himself and got up from his chair, barging into

Neru's room.

Neru was snoring, curled up under the covers of her bed. Her long blonde hair fanned out under her head. She didn't even stir when he walked right in.

Len walked over and roughly shook her awake.

"Huh?" she asked groggily, eyes barely open. Looking around, she found Len leaning over her. "Len?"

Without a word, Len dragged her out of her bed and half-carried Neru to his room. Neru didn't protest, still dazed by the fact that Len was in her bedroom.

He dumped her in the chair in front of the computer, turning her head towards the computer screen. At first, Neru didn't register the picture and the program that was in front of her. After a minute of staring, she slowly realized what it was.

Turning towards him, she tried to explain. "It was just a joke, I swear! I wasn't trying to do anything..." She trailed off, seeing the steely glare coming from Len.

Silently, Len handed Neru his phone. "Why don't you just tell Miku _everything_?" he suggested.

Neru could have sworn that he had a devilish glint in his eyes. She sighed, taking the phone and dialing Miku's number.

"She won't be happy if I wake her up at this time," Neru noted, seeing the time on the computer.

"Whatever."

After three tries, an extremely irritated and groggy Miku picked up. "This better be good, Len. If I find that you're calling me at six in the morning just to say 'Good morning' or anything else, I'll have your head!"

"Miku, it's Neru. And I called about..." Neru hesitated, wondering what to say. "You know, the thing about Rin. Umm...what happened to her?"

"Oh! Well, she got expelled," Miku said. Her voice seemed to cloud over in tears when she said that. "I'll tell you what happened when we walk to school." She hung up after that.

Neru brought the phone down from her ear and snapped the flip phone shut. Len looked at her suspiciously. "Miku just said that Rin got expelled but she hung up."

Len sighed. "Fine, go back to bed," he told Neru. He turned back on his homework and started typing randomly onto the once-blank document. Neru backed slowly out of the room, glancing back at Len's figure, frantically typing on the computer.

_I really messed up this time. He hates me now, really hates me.

* * *

_

Miku waited at the corner, sighing. She wondered how she was going to tell Len and Neru that Rin was moving to America. That was halfway across the world! She also wondered why the heck did Neru call her at six in the morning just to ask about Rin.

_Did Neru have something to do with all this?_ Miku wondered. She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear Len and Neru approaching her.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" asked Neru, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh? Oh, it's you guys. Good morning," she replied, forcing a smile onto her face.

"So will you tell us what happened to Rin now?" asked Neru.

"Oh, well, because of the photo thing she got expelled," Miku started, pausing because of Len's interruption of, "Expelled?"

"Yeah. The phone call came from the school after you two broke up. And then we called our grandmother on our mother's side and Rin decided to go to school there in America," she continued, ignoring Len's comment. "She just went to the airport a while ago."

Len's eyes widened. "What time does her plane take off?"

"In an hour or so."

He glanced at his watch. _7:30_, it read. _The airport is only about half an hour away but it's rush hour…_

Turning to Neru he said, "You promised to tell Miku everything. Now go. I'm going to go to the airport." With that, he ran toward the busy intersection, waving his hand to hail a taxi. He climbed into the back seat and sped away.

"What did he mean by tell me everything?" asked Miku slowly.

"By everything, he meant everything. Now where should I start?" was Neru's reply.

* * *

"Driver, can you go any faster?" Len asked.

"If I drove any faster, then I would get arrested for breaking the speed limit. Besides, can't you see we're stuck in traffic?" the driver replied. "Why are you in such a hurry? Normally, you go to the airport a _few hours_ before the flight, not five minutes before."

"There's someone I want to see off."

"You sure it's not a reason to skip school or anything? After all, you are in your uniform AND carrying a school bag there."

Len sighed, already tired of arguing with the driver. "Look, if you get me to the airport, I'll go to school and stuff."

"Alright, alright. Do you know which terminal the person you're seeing off is at?"

"Umm...Lemme ask a friend," he replied, taking out his phone. Quickly typing, he sent a text message to Miku.

_Which terminal is she at?_

He pressed the green SEND button on his phone and waited for a reply.

"Well?"

"I didn't get a reply yet..."

His cell phone beeped and vibrated, signaling that a new text message had come.

_3._

"Terminal 3," Len told the driver.

"Alright." The driver turned onto the lane that would lead them to the specified terminal. However, the taxi didn't get far before stopping.

"Wow. It sure is busy," the driver remarked.

"I'll get off here," Len told him, knowing that if he stayed, he would've missed Rin's flight. He paid the taxi fare and stepped out of the taxi, ready to jog to the airport.

But he didn't see the car whose brakes had failed careening toward him...

* * *

Rin clutched her ticket in her hand, wondering if she should give it to the person. If she did, there would be no turning back.

She stood at the back of the line, letting other people pass in front of her. Other people getting ready to get on the plane stared at her strangely, wondering what she was doing.

Rin bit her lip, deep in thought. If she missed this plane, she would have to go home and explain to her parents why she didn't go and have to make a long distance call to her grandmother...

Rin was so deep in thought that she didn't notice her phone vibrating.

_Eh? I thought I turned it off though_, she thought as she took out her phone. It was a message from Miku.

Rin flinched, expecting Miku to have sent an angry text message on why she didn't say good-bye to her. Still, she opened the message, wanting to reply.

However, the message wasn't what she had expected.

_Len's going to the airport to see you. Try to delay the plane. Everything was Neru's fault. Will explain later._

Rin almost dropped the phone in shock. She thought he hated her! And what did Miku mean by everything being Neru's fault? She shrugged, making a mental note to ask later. For now, she focused on the most important part of the message. _Len was coming. To see her!_

Suddenly an announcement went up on the speakers of the airport. A female's cool voice was heard.

"There has been an accident on one of the roads to the airport. Because of that, we will be delaying the planes for two hours. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused."

_Eh? Well, the planes are already going to be delayed. Might as well wait in front of the airport for Len to arrive._

She found herself in front of the airport already, her feet automatically bringing her there. _Well, even my feet know that I never really wanted to leave..._

Rin stared down at the empty road. Normally, in front of the airport, there would be cars. But for now, there were none. It was eerily quiet.

She sat down on a bench, waiting. Suddenly, a siren was heard and Rin looked up to see an ambulance zooming past her. A glimpse inside the ambulance showed that the person lying inside it was a boy about her age with blonde hair.

_He looks a lot like Len...wait...can it be...?_

Rin stood up from the bench she was sitting on. Her legs felt like jello. She tried walking toward the ambulance that had already walked away. Instead, she collapsed, hitting her head on the bench she had been sitting on, blacking out.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Rin blinked, her eyes slowly opening. She looked around, wanting to find the source of the annoying beeping noise. She pinpointed the sound to be coming from the monitor on her right.

Wait...monitor?

Rin then noticed that she was lying down on a bed. She tried sitting up on the bed but felt a tug on her arm.

_Ew, it's a needle!_ She was extremely tempted to pull it out of her arm but thought better of it.

"Rin! You're awake!" At her bedside, she saw Miku, who just woke up from a short nap.

"Am I in the hospital?" Rin asked.

"Yeah. Don't you remember? You hit your head and knocked yourself out. Someone was kind enough to call the first person in your cell phone contact list."

"Oh." Rin frowned, trying to remember what happened before she fell. Instead, she remembered something else.

A fire.

_Where did that come from?_

And in that memory of a fire, she heard something.

A boy's voice.

Len.

Rin suddenly sat up and turned to Miku. "Can I get up?"

"Umm...I think so, as long as you don't feel dizzy or anything. You hit your head pretty hard, you know," Miku replied.

"Am I allowed to pull this _thing_ out?" asked Rin, gesturing toward the needle in her arm.

Miku giggled, amused by Rin's hate for needles. "I guess you can. You're not that badly hurt except for a huge bruise and a scrape. Let me ask the doctor first, alright?"

Miku headed to the doorway, watching for a doctor to pass by. She spotted one, making rounds and peeking into every room. When he approached Rin's room, Miku asked, "Can she get out of bed?"

The doctor looked inside and saw that Rin was awake. "Let me do a few tests first just to make sure that she's fine."

He held up a flashlight to her eyes and told Rin to follow the light with her eyes. Rin would have liked to roll her eyes at something this simple, but if she did, she probably would have had to stay in bed even longer.

After a whole minute of this, the doctor turned off his flashlight and said, "She's fine. You can leave the hospital if you'd like," and walked away.

"That was quick," Miku remarked. She turned toward her sister on the bed. Rin was busy trying to pull the needle out from her arm. However, she had a bit of trouble.

"Here, let me try," Miku said, heading over to the bed. "Look the other way." Rin obliged and Miku quickly slid the needle from her skin.

"All done." Rin quickly got up from the bed and put on her shoes.

"I need to check something out. Can you wait for me by the entrance?" Rin said suddenly.

"Umm...sure." Miku looked at her weirdly but didn't ask any questions. She turned and headed out of the room, leaving Rin alone.

A few moments after Miku left, Rin dashed towards the front desk. "Is there a patient named Len Kagamine? What room is he in?" Rin asked in one breath.

"Wait a moment, please," the receptionist replied, going through the list of patients. "He's in room 317, on the third floor on the left side of the hallway," she said, gesturing towards the elevator.

"Thanks." Rin ran toward the elevator and pressed the up button, feeling her blood run cold. After a few seconds of waiting, she grew impatient and opened the doors to the stairs, taking them two at a time. In less than a minute, she reached the third floor. Opening the door, she dashed down the hallway, skidding to a stop at room 317.

Rin raised a hand to knock but faltered, her hand trembling. _This is all my fault. This is all my fault. He definitely doesn't want to see me!_

She gathered up her courage and quietly rapped on the door.

_But I still want to see him one last time..._

She opened the door slowly, expecting it to creak loudly. But obviously, the well-oiled hinges of the hospital door wouldn't squeak.

She peeked into the room, after opening it a bit. Len was sitting up on bed, talking to the doctor. He must have made a funny remark because he and the doctor began laughing.

"Umm...excuse me? C-Can I come in?" she asked nervously.

"Oh? Is that your sister?" the white-clad doctor asked.

"Eh? That's my girlfriend. And, sure," Len replied.

Rin felt relief flood through her body when he said that. _So, technically speaking, he forgives me, right? Right?_

"Really now?" The doctor didn't look convinced. "I won't tell if it's a secret or anything..."

Rin sighed. _This again... _"It's like this. We look like each other, but we're definitely not siblings. We're friends that go way back."

"I see. Well, I'll leave you two alone. If you don't feel well or you notice that something's wrong, just press that button by the bed." The doctor left the room, swiftly, smiling as if he knew some deep, dark secret.

"Umm..." Rin stalled, wondering what to say. "Sorry?"

Len snorted. "It's not your fault. Aren't you supposed to be on a plane on the way to the other side of the world or something?"

"Well, like you, I got into a bit of an accident," Rin started, "but it's not as big as yours." Rin eyed the cast on his leg and the bandages wrapped around his head.

"What happened to you?"

Rin walked over to the side of Len's bed and sat down on the chair nearby. "I hit my head on a bench. Nothing much to worry about. All I have is this big bruise and probably a lot of lost brain cells. Otherwise, I'm totally fine!"

Len narrowed his eyes. "'Friends that go way back...'" he mumbled to himself. Rin smiled sweetly at him.

"Well, we do go way back, don't we?"

He smiled back, knowing what she was implying. He leaned back against the pillows of the bed.

"Don't you ever try to leave again, promise?"

"I promise."

**.Fin.**

* * *

**A/N:** And you all could make up the ending you want from there.

Such a rushed ending. DX I was desperate to finish since you guys were all expecting this much sooner. I'm super, super, super, super sorry for the _superbly_ late update... Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator, I guess.

And this is complete. _Finally_. Time to chase those little plot bunnies in my brain now. Check my profile to see what I'm planning/doing now if you'd like. :D

And thank you all for the faves, alerts, and reviews. I hope I will have another decent idea for another Vocaloid fanfic.


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